


One Year Later

by Parallel_Deviation



Series: Detroit: Become Human Post-Pacifist Revolution, Canon Compliant - Post Canon (2034-2040) [1]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Canon Compliant, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Minor Sherlock Holmes/Greg Lestrade, Minor Sherlock Holmes/Jim Moriarty, Minor Sherlock Holmes/John Watson, Minor Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper, Post-Canon, Post-Pacifist Best Ending (Detroit: Become Human), isaac asimov reference
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-13 16:02:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 45,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28780947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Parallel_Deviation/pseuds/Parallel_Deviation
Summary: October-November 2039Hank and Connor are worn out interviewing anyone they can find who makes a new type of technology that a criminal may be using to kill androids. It leaves no trace, so forensics can only tell them what it isn't and what its affects are.Connor's gentle eyes followed my movement as I pushed a stray hair away from my eyes and quickly tied my hair back.“Hi, I’m Bridget, Head of Nanobot Screening.”I forced a polite smile, feeling the heat rise in my face, and blushing from minor embarrassment which he didn’t seem to notice until his face went slightly neutral before he smiled sweetly back. I swallowed, knowing what appeared to be a passing thought was actually him scanning me. I was one of the few people with the right background to recognize it.“Hi, I’m Detective Connor Anderson with the DPD. It’s very nice to meet you!” He took my outstretched hand and firmly held it, waiting for my response.“Good,” I thought, “since your hot ass just scanned me.” I cleared my throat, not quite confident in my voice.“I apologize for not seeing you there, Connor .” He still firmly held my hand, possibly taking my pulse, while sweetly smiling. I eyed him warily.
Relationships: Connor (Detroit: Become Human)/Original Female Character(s), Hank like Connor's Older Brother, Simon (Detroit: Become Human)/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Detroit: Become Human Post-Pacifist Revolution, Canon Compliant - Post Canon (2034-2040) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2157933
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	1. The Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> Bridget isn't looking forward to meeting with the detectives and manages to embarrass herself before saying a word. She tends to babble on when she's nervous. She also seriously wonders about CyberLife's definition of "easily integrates with people." Her colleague gives her a hard time for her own good.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hank and Connor arrive at ChemoTech to interview Bridget and Dr. Liz about the potential for their chemotherapy delivering nanobots to be used in several android homicides delivering a substance that acts like a poison, but no traces are found in the blueblood of the victims.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and comments greatly appriciated!  
> Parallel_Deviation@gmail.com

I looked at myself in the bedroom mirror, satisfied I looked appropriate despite the extra weight I gained this year. Not great, but appropriate. How people are managing to keep fit or even lose weight I will never understand. I headed over to the apartment kitchen.

“Take your food, Holly,” I patted my dog as I stood back up. “Please don’t break my heart when I leave.” I picked up my bag and closed the door, I immediately hearing her barking and reminded myself this is what I signed up for when adopting a pet.

The commute to ChemoTech went quickly as hardly anyone was out on a Sunday morning. Dr. Liz had asked me if I could meet her at the office in case I was needed for an interview with the police. I probably wouldn’t be needed, as I was effectively a mechanic, at least that is how I calmed myself on the way in.

I parked up front seeing only Dr. Liz car, and went inside to my small office, where it was away from any noise coming from the main area, because I had difficulty concentrating when there was too much background noise. Of course, another thing my office location did was let me secretly observe people in the lobby. I cleared away the dust from my desk and plugged in my tablet just as heard someone speak into the lobby welcome kiosk.

“Lieutenant Hank Anderson, DPD”

“Detective Connor Anderson, DPD”.

“Cute”, I thought, “father and son investigators now?”

A second later the notification appeared on my screen that an appointment was here. Dr. Liz quickly messaged me that she would show them in. “They were going to speak to her, and I probably wouldn’t be needed”, I told myself again.

I looked out my door and down to the lobby as they met Dr. Liz. She had met with Hank before on various cases I had heard about in passing. Hank was about 6’ 3”, 50’s and dressed very scruffy. He had a world-weary feel about him. I raised my eyebrows when Connor walked into view. He was poshe, looked about 35 and moved with purpose, examining his surroundings even though there was nothing to see. 6’ tall with a slim build, dark brown hair, clean cut, wearing dark jeans with a white shirt, black tie and brown leather coat. No LED, so no he longer had an indicator of his feelings, a decision I greatly approved of. Hank and Dr. Liz stopped for a moment, while Connor quietly waited, producing a coin and rolling it over his knuckles. Before continuing across the lobby, Connor turned his head directly toward my office at me openly watching him. I involuntarily froze, unable to look away from his handsome face. He gave me a friendly smile and a little wave before I quickly looked back to my screens.

“Shit”, I thought, hiding under my hand. “He did a scan in the lobby and picked up on my vitals. Good one, Bridget.”

Feeling like I had broken a major social rule, I put my earbuds in and listened to some classical music which always helped me feel better. If Dr. Liz needed me, she would message over the computer anyway. Our technology was chemotherapy delivering nanobots, and she was the expert on the nanobots. Screening technology had been used on cells for about 15 years.

Resting my chin on my left hand I watched my protocol running on the screen. I had brought my latest assay validation protocol with me today. Whenever it encountered and error and beeped, I fixed the script and restarted it. I was annoyed I couldn’t have just run this from the comfort of my home set up, but I wanted to have something to do while here. Dr. Liz was a good boss, just enough of a friend and genuinely had her team's best interest at heart. She knew I wanted to be better socially and had been giving me opportunities to do presentations, trainings and escort potential customers in the facility. I had started going to company happy hours and off clock lunches. I felt that I was slowly getting better, until she asked me to be here for this meeting.

Just then another notification appeared on my screen.

_Dr. Liz: <\----- Look to your left _

“What?” I thought, confused, glancing to the left screen, looking for a shared window, but nothing was there. Still feeling like an idiot from the whole Connor incident, I sent a one-handed response.

_Bridget H.: ???_

_Dr. Liz: <\---------!!!!! DOOR _

I turned to face my door and saw a handsome, confused android gently knocking on my door frame.

“Oh Shit!” I thought to myself. “Get Up!”

I inadvertently slammed my hand on the desk and stood up too quickly, removing my earbuds and grabbing a hair clip. I could see around Connor just enough to watch Hank laughing and Dr. Liz grinning. Connor gentle eyes followed my movement as I pushed a stray hair away from my eyes and quickly tied my hair back.

“Hi, I’m Bridget, Head of Nanobot Screening.” I forced a polite smiled, feeling the heat rise in my face, blushing from minor embarrassment which Connor didn’t seem to notice until his face went slightly neutral before he smiled sweetly back. I swallowed, knowing what appeared to be a passing thought was actually him scanning me. I was one of the few people with the right background to recognize it.

“Hi, I’m Detective Connor Anderson with the DPD. It’s very nice to meet you!” He took my outstretched hand and firmly held it, waiting for my response.

“Good,” I thought, “since your hot ass just scanned me.” I cleared my throat, not quite confident in my voice. “I apologize for not seeing you there, Connor .” He still firmly held my hand, possibly taking my pulse, while sweetly smiling. I eyed him warily.

“I didn’t want to bother you if you were busy.” He said apologetically. I shook my head, my expression softening.

“It’s no bother, I’m not….” I glanced over and saw Dr. Liz and Hank still watching us. Dr. Liz was probably happy to see me speaking to someone without a pre-scheduled time, and Hank was clearing enjoying his partner's confusion. I let out a frustrated breath. Instead of inviting Connor to sit at the seat next to my desk, I used my free hand to motion him over to a small couch next to the door. Dr. Liz and Hank wouldn’t be able to observe us, me closing the door without closing the door on them. My tablet, still on my desk, chimed with a new notification. I let go of and gently pulled my hand out of Connor's grasp to check it.

_Dr. Liz: Connor would like to know more about our CNB screening process. He’s cute, have fun!_

I quickly cleared the notification hoping he hadn’t seen it and put my tablet back on my desk. I sat down uncomfortably next to him on the couch. Typical he would be even more gorgeous close up.

“How can I help you, Connor?” This man had amazing posture. I corrected my slump. He looked over at my desk, the only personal item being a framed picture of me and my dog.

“I see you have a dog. I like dogs. What’s your dog's name?” He innocent asked me, then glanced away for a moment. I squinted at him, recognizing a nervous response.

“He’s doesn’t know what he’s doing to me.” I thought to myself, letting my guard down a little and clearing my throat.

“Her name is Holly.” I answered without missing a beat. That was a typical ice-breaker question. “She’s a Pomeranian. Do you have any pets?”

“Hank has a dog, Sumo.” He volunteered, “We’re roommates, he offered me a spare room after the revolution.” I nodded to him, despite how random that piece of information it was. His nervousness made me feel more confident and so help me, like I wanted to help him feel less nervous.

“That was kind of him. I’ve never had a roommate, except for the dog.”

We stared at each other for few seconds. He had the deepest chocolate-brown eyes. I blinked a few times to clear my head. “Aren’t we supposed to be talking about CNBs”, I thought to myself. “I have a training presentation I can show you, unless you would rather download it?”

“No,” he said, “I prefer to use my senses in a more human manner whenever possible. Please, explain it to me.” He smiled adorably again. I was all too aware of my heart beating faster, knowing he could detect it if he scanned me or held my hand again. I got up and retrieved my tablet from my desk while discretely looking out the door at Dr. Liz’s empty office. They must have gone over to the cafeteria to get a coffee, hopefully done sending “helpful” messages to my tablet.

“How much do you know about nanobots and screening technology? I asked him to get a baseline.

“I haven’t downloaded any information yet, on Hank’s advice. He recommended we discuss the technology beforehand.”

I smiled sweetly at him. “If you have any questions after you download, I’m here to help.”

“Or any for any other reason you need” I thought, not that he was likely to. I showed him the first slide.

“Here is an example of Dr. Liz’s finished nanobot with its embedded chemotherapy. We’re the first company to get FDA approval to deliver chemotherapy using nanobots.” I flipped to the next slide.

“The nanobots are introduced to the blood stream via IV. Once released they float in the bloodstream until they encounter a tumor and adhere to it, then release the drug, radiation, or other prescribed chemotherapy.” I flipped slides. “The empty nanobot shell breaks down to its components and is no longer detectable in the blood stream.”

“Is this technology more effective than conventional treatments?” Connor asked. I took a deep breath.

“The nanobots deliver chemotherapy to cancerous masses that haven't metastasized, allowing earlier treatment. Bots also remain in the blood stream searching for cancer to adhere to, at which point they can be removed via screening. We can tell how effective the treatment is by monitoring the nanobot levels afterward. Additionally, circulating tumor cells, if there are any, can be monitored in tandem.”

“What triggers the nanobot to release its contents?” He asked as I looked up at him. He was serious, but still annoyingly handsome.

“Not now”, I lectured myself again. “Most bots open when tumor antigens are detected. We have another type that is time released for non-specific chemotherapy”.

“How does the screening work?” He asked, adorably tilting his head while looking at the tablet.

Switching slides, I said “It’s done by running a patient's blood through a filter specifically designed to attract and bond to the contents of the nanobots still in the blood stream. For example, if the bots released into the blood stream are carrying pharmaceutical chemotherapy, that drug is attracted to the walls of the filter.” I paused, nodding slightly, waiting for his next question, trying to not openly admire the curve of his neck into his jawline.

“How do you filter a person’s blood? How long does it take to filter the amount of blood an average human or android has?”

“Human or android? Since when do androids get cancer?” I thought, and continued, “The patient is hooked up via iv to our instrument and the blood is removed, screened, and returned to the patient. Humans and androids both have about 10% of their weight in blood, about 10 units. That’s about 5 liters, or 1.3 gallons. The most through test filters and returns the blood three times over 2.5 hours. It’s about 1 hour for our quickest test. Standard 4 mL collection tubes take 30 minutes each.”

Connor nodded at me, seemingly considering his next question. He leaned toward me and asked,

“Do you think you could design a filter to screen out nanobots without knowing any properties of the substance they contain? Assume the substance is toxic and absorbs when released so the main interest is removing the nanobots quickly and intact.”

I gaped in disbelief. “Wait, poisoning people with nanobots.... who would even do that? What is this about?”

“I can’t tell you right now.” He said, seeming concerned that I was upset. He looked away and ran a hand through his hair on the back of his head, which was unbelievably attractive.

“Not the time!” I thought to myself and took a deep breath. Connor turned back to me.

“I... You... mean a purely non-chemical filter? The bots we patented were created for chemotherapy delivery, and removal using attraction to the filter walls degrades the nanobot shell. But if we absolutely can’t use that method, a cascade could work.”

“A cascade?” He asked, tilting his head curiously.

“It's my old R&D project, theory being shape exclusion of nanobots removed with the live metastasize cells during one filtering session. The bots have irregular edges compared to a cell. Cascades are used to remove CTCs by not deforming them, keeping them alive for culture. After filtering, the blood is shunted to a second cascade where I designed the graduation steps to be just big enough to capture the nanobots without them being deformed and opening.... But currently we use a chemo-specific exclusion cassette to remove because I'm not concerned with the nanobots condition post filtering.”

Connor looked hopeful when he heard this. An irrational wave of feeling happy I pleased him welled up in me, which I pushed away. Dr. Liza had probably him sent over to me because she knew I would have a better time interacting with the cute detective than I would with Hank; or she was just cruel and playing me, her sense of humor was consistent with that idea.

“How long would the nanobots remain viable after isolation on the cassette?” Connor still hadn't leaned back. I thought for a moment before answering.

“I honestly don’t know. I haven’t tried to preserve captured bots on the cassette, I didn’t go that route. Instead, I image the cassette and then flush them with preservation buffer into a reservoir. This preserves the nanobots and a sample can be taken to verify the cassette image.” Connor nodded, again considering something. I had to admit to myself part me was really enjoying this male attention. He quickly blinked and asked,

“How long do nanobots last in a blood sample?”

“Nanobots tend to coagulate in blood over 6 hours old.” I turned my head away from him and paused, thinking for a moment.

“What’s your idea?” Connor leadingly asked, raising an eyebrow. I looked over at him; the irritatingly cute, attractive android observing me from a foot away. CyberLife probably designed him that way intending he easily interact with people, such as single straight women in their late 30’s. I blinked several times to clear my head.

“I mean, if I get the closed nanobots isolated before they coagulate, I can use our lyse to open them and analysis the contents using a chromatography instrument, maybe GC/MS or HPLC.”

A notification popped up on the tablet we were looking at.

_Dr. Liza: Wrap it up, you two, talk another time!_

We both chuckled at that. I looked at him, relieved he has a sense of humor, also incredibly dark brown eyes, amazing brown hair...He quickly looked down. I looked away for a moment, but he quickly looked back at me.

“Can I call you? I mean, can we….call you?” I met his gaze, shaking my head slightly. He cleared his throat and continued. “We need you to draw samples at crime scenes, since having them analyzed with you makes sense. Our forensics lab isn’t equipped for nanobot screening and if forensic did the draw, the samples would take longer for them to get them to you than if you did it yourself. You should know though; I can’t say when we will get calls. Some may be in the middle of the night.”

"You want me to work with you?" I thought to myself. "How am I supposed to do that, I can barely stop looking at you!"

Regardless, I smiled up at him as we got off the couch. “That won’t be a problem, I’m happy to help.” I thought, “and I have NO life.”

“Good.” He smiled and gently shook my hand. “I’ll see you again soon.” He slowly let go of my hand and went to meet Hank, smiling back at me on the way. I sat back down and put my head in my hands.

“Why did CyberLife let them make him _hot _?__ This is gonna kill me!” I thought to myself. I leaned on my doorway and watched as they crossed the parking lot, Hank punched Connor ’s arm and Connor jumped in surprise. Smiling to myself I went to Dr. Liz’s office.

\----

“How did it go?” Dr. Liz innocently asked, seeing my expression when I came over to her office to talk about the meeting. I cleared my throat, deciding to be all business.

“He was interested in removing nanobots using a shape exclusion cascade and isolating the contents. He didn’t know exactly what they were looking for, but he let slip it acts like a poison in androids.” Dr. Liz considered that for a moment.

“Yes, Hank told something similar. We’re going to be working with them on this case. You’ll need to take point since I'm going back to Montreal for two weeks, possibly longer. Do you think you can help them out?” I nodded.

“I have a R&D filter I can use to screen android blood, since blueblood thickness and cells sizes correspond to human blood. Connor said for stability, I need to draw the blueblood from crime scenes.”

“That’s fine, Hank mentioned that was the direction they were heading. He wants ChemoTech to be an independent forensics contractor, with you taking care of the samples. The DPD forensic lab doesn’t have the capabilities we have, and any redesign would need to be done here. You’re the screening expert and bypassing you would delay the investigation anyway. Will you be alright, considering...everything?” She looked concerned.

“I’ll be fine,” I responded. “I’ve done blood draws on patients and cadavers, though not on androids. But androids have the human circulatory pattern, so I don’t anticipate a problem.”

“You know that's not what I ment. Speaking of, how’d you like Connor? He’s a cute one,” she pointedly asked. I blinked a few times and licked my lip, trying to not think about how kind and innocent he was and how much more insanely hot that made him. I really wished I hadn't noticed this time. 

“I know,” I said, getting a bit red. “He was…very direct and intuitive.”

“Connor was annoying Hank because he kept asking about you, so we told him to go talk to you by himself.” Dr. Liz grinned at me. I stared back at her and didn’t say anything, thinking about the last three men she had tried to fix me up with. She looked at me like I was hopeless.

I decided to cut the bullshit. 

“Sex is easy, Liz.” I shook my head. “It’s love I miss.” Love is amazing. I missed it more than I could stand, if you can miss something you're not sure you've ever had. 

“You’ve been taking a break from men for, what, a year now? I don’t care how fucked up he was, you have to stop letting him control you. When you figure this out, just keep it professional at work.” 

“I will.” I answered, without really caring what it was, because clearly, she did NOT understand my position.

When I got home though, I couldn’t stop myself from thinking about running my hand through his hair while he sat next to me, stupid android.


	2. The Crime Scene

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bridget receives a surprise phone call. No one knows how they will react at their first crime scene. Connor's kindness is starting to get though Bridget's guard. We really do name our lab instruments.

My tablet chimed at 9 am the next morning. Working from home had me sleeping later that I should be.

“Hello?” I said groggily.

“Can you be ready to leave in 20 minutes? We need you to go to a crime scene with us.” It was Connor, of course.

“Sure!” I said, snapping awake. “Where is it?”

“We're going to pick you up on the way; you’re only 10 minutes from Hank's house. I'll need you to show me how to collect samples and then how to run them through your prototype cascade filter as a backup.”

“Ok, I'll see you in a bit.”

“And Bridget,” Connor said warningly “Don’t eat breakfast. No one can predict how they will react at a crime scene.”

“Ok Connor . Thanks.”

\------

Hanks car arrived at my apartment building shortly after I had dressed. I wore my lab clothes consisting of cheap jeans and long-sleeved tee-shirt in case anything stained. I pulled on my black leather coat to combat the chilly morning air and went outside. Connor got out of the front seat and opened the back door for me. I thought that was unexpectedly sweet. After I sat down, he turned around and offered me a travel cup.

“It’s earl grey tea, not coffee. It will help you wake up.”

“How did you know this is what I drink?” I asked, taking the cup. He smiled proudly.

“You had a box of earl gray on the windowsill behind the screen in your office.”

“Well, thank you.” I reminding myself observing people's little quirks was literally in his job description.

He smiled again before turning back to the front of the car. I looked down when that feeling of attraction hit me again. I really need to work on pushing it away.

“Are you two done now? Can I drive to the crime scene?” asked Hank, annoyed.

Neither Connor or I said anything, I just concentrated on drinking my tea.

\------

We pulled up to an ordinary ranch house in a non-descript neighborhood. It was much nicer than I envisioned a crime scene would be, except for the white tent around the side door. We got out of the car and Hank pulled me and Connor aside.

“Ok, here is how it’s going to go here.” Hank said very seriously. “They want us to put on protective suits with masks and hair nets first, then we can go in. Connor, take Bridget directly to the body and Bridget, show him how to get blood samples. When she’s done Connor, go directly outside with her. Bridget, if you need him to stay with you, that’s fine. If you want to be left completely alone, that’s fine to. People's reactions to crime scenes are unpredictable.” I nodded and looked at Connor. He gave me an encouraging smile.

“Don’t worry kid, we’ll take care of you, or Connor will.” Hank said, lightening the mood. I smiled a little.

We dressed in PPE and headed in the designated entrance, the side door leading to the laundry room and into the living area. I saw a figure slumped in a chair.

“Do your thing kid. Connor, stay with her.” Hank said before going to speak with the officers.

I kept wondering about Hanks decision to call me “Kid”, 38 wasn’t really young.

“So, um, Connor we will need to find a vein in the body that allows us to do a significant blood draw. Since androids’ vein structure is modeled after humans, I'm going to use the femoral vein. That’s in the thigh. Blue blood has the same viscosity as human blood, so a standard needle and syringe is all we need.”

“I see,” he said as we knelt down by the corpse. I thought it was nice he didn’t tell me he knew that already.

I opened the blood kit and removed a needle and syringe. After assembling them I pointed to the area we needed to use. “We carefully insert the needle like this, right into the vein. Then gently pull back on the syringe. If nothing immediately comes out, push the needle in slightly further. “

“I understand.” Connor said, intently watching me work.

“Ok, so in this case there is no blood flowing into the syringe. We need to make a laceration in the thigh to find exactly where the vein is located. First put this syringe into the sharps container and get out a scapple.” I assembled the scapple and carefully stretched the skin above the femoral vein.

“Being extremely careful to keep your fingers out of the way, apply a small amount of pressure and make a three-inch incision here. Get the syringe ready.” Connor expertly assembled a fresh syringe and handed it to me.

“Open the incision and look for the vein, right here. Insert the needle tip into the vein and see? Right away we have blood in the syringe.” Connor looked fascinated by the whole process.

“Pull back on the syringe until it’s full, then twist it off the needle. Close the cap and put the next syringe on the needle. Do the same for the rest of the samples”. I appreciated how he was ready to take the finished sample from me and handed me a fresh syringe each time.

“And... we are done!” I said, snapping the blood kit closed. I stood up with Connor and looked back at the body. There was dried foam around the mouth and his eyes were open but rolled back in his head. His skin had an unnatural yellow pallor.

That body that used to be a person. A breathing person, living his life, and someone did this to him.... using Dr. Liz’s nanobots, designed to save lives, not take them....

My vision was suddenly blurry, and I felt a pounding in my head. The next thing I know Connor is holding me up. I tried to stand on my own but fell back against him.

“I have you, it’s alright.” Connor said, half carrying me outside. “We’re almost there.”

We went around the side of the door and he sat with me on the step. He took our masks and hair nets off. I immediately felt better with the cool air touching my face.

“Take a deep breath” Connor said into my hair, as I leaned my head against his shoulder. I could feel the warmth from his body.

“He was a person......”

“I know, but it’s alright.” Connor said while stroking my hair and cheek. “We’ll find who did this.” My head was still pounding but I felt better leaning against him. I didn’t care if I was being appropriate or not, and I didn’t care if it was part of his job to comfort me. I just wanted to lean on his shoulder with his arms around me and feel the warmth from his neck.

“Ahem...” Hank said. “Are you feeling better? Drink this.”

He handed me a bottled water. I took a sip even though Connor didn’t let go of me.

"I'm sorry, guys," I replied, trying to move away from Connor, who kept his strong grip around me, "I don't know why that happened. I'm not the fainting type.."

“Don’t feel bad, kid. No one knows how they will react the first time. Come sit in the car and we can head over to your lab," Hank said.

Connor insisted on helping me to the car and then sat in the back with me. I smiled, he looked really concerned.

“I'm really ok,” I told him. “My head is pounding but I feel alright.” He smiled and smoothed the hair off my forehead. I really wished at that moment that it wasn’t just part of his job to take care of me.

The lab was 20 minutes from the crime scene. I spent most of that time leaning against Connor and looking out the front window. Hank periodically looked at us in the rearview. Connor kept his arm around me and his cheek against my hair while he looked at his tablet. I went from feeling sad for the victim to feeing angry at the crime. My breathing shortened and my heart rate was increasing. Connor could tell.

“It will be alright,” he said looking away from his tablet and stroking my hair. “You know how we get through this?”

I shook my head no. He still had no idea, and didn't want to change that.

“Just focus on what your next task is, and then the next one, until we get this guy.”

“Listen to your Connor.” Hank said, glancing in the rearview. Connor looked up, confused.

“How do you block it out?” I asked, genuinely curious.

“Before I was deviant the crimes didn’t affect me. Afterward, it was a little while before I got used to them.” Connor said.

“That sounds horrible.” I answered, still leaning against him.

“Yes,” he answered thoughtfully. “I got used to that too.”

\------

“Ok” Hank said, pulling into the lot back at ChemoTech. “You two eggheads run the samples; I’m getting breakfast. Kid, you want anything?”

“Any light breakfast sandwich is good.” I said, straightening up and getting my coat.

As Hank put the car in gear, I hear him say “The lady wants a light breakfast sandwich. What the hell is that?”

\-----

We walked up to the door and I swiped my ID card to get into the lobby. I stopped at the kiosk and said my name. Connor did the same. The entry/exit log updated and opened the door.

“Why does ChemoTech have such high security?” Connor asked.

“It’s because we’re a R&D facility. Sometimes customers leave proprietary samples with us.”

He nodded at me, for once not asking a follow up question. I took him back to my lab.

“Here” I handed him a lab coat and goggles. “PPE is recommended in here, so I'm going to have you wear it as well. You won’t get anything on you if something spills.”

“I’m ok with that.” he said putting on the goggles and grinning. His being adorable was helping to perk me up. I swiped my card at the door.

“So, we have the instrument over here. ChemoTech creatively calls it the Auto-screener. It’s the one hospitals use with the chemo-specific and CTC cartridges. I call it Jerry.”

Connor blinked. “Why?”

“I spend a lot of time in here and wanted to name him. It seemed fitting.”

Connor grinned and shook his head while looking away.

“First we need to run system suitability”. I opened a box and took a small ampoule, cracking the top and pipetting the contents into an empty draw tube.

“Jerry detects this is a 1 mL sample. We snap the tube in here, and select the system suitability program for this ampoule.” I showed Connor the side of the ampoule.

“It has 10,000 nanobots per mL filled with Doxorubicin. I need to tell Jerry to look for nanobots only, not Doxorubicin. We select that program from here, and hit load. Since the instrument knows how many nanobots it is looking for it will calculate if system suit passes for us.” I looked up at him. He smiled again.

“Next we check the tubing is set up how we want it. I want to bypass the CTC filter cassette since we are not running CTC’s, and cut the analysis to 15 minutes. Can you reach that box for me?”

I pointed to the upper shelf behind me where I had my nanobot size exclusion cassettes stashed. He reached up next to me and handed me the box. “Thanks, I didn’t want to get the step stool.” Connor smiled again. I disconnected the tubes and attached them directly into the nanobot exclusion cassette holder.

“We take one of these cassettes, with the nanobot filter inside, and slide it into the holder. We check the buffer levels, making sure they are fine. Empty the waste vial and now, we tell Jerry we’ve confirmed setup and he can start the analysis.” I pushed the big green button on the front panel. “And, we hurry up and wait for 15 minutes. Would you want to see how to make cassettes?”

“Sure, I’m curious about the entire process”. I took him to the other side of the lab.

“This is Joshua, the robot that makes the filters and assembles them into the cassettes. I can edit the program to makes changes to the filters, then produce them right here. But most of the filters are produced at an offsite facility and shipped directly to hospitals.”

Connor glanced over at me, amused. He looked curiously at Joshua. It was only a gray box with a window in front, which showed arms that manipulated the materials.

“Your entire process is automated?” He asked professionally.

“For the most part. This is for custom cassettes. Even we get our basic ones from the offsite production facility.”

“How do you produce the nanobots?”

“Most of them are made and filled at the offsite facility. Dr. Liz needs to be able to produce some here though. She has a proprietary instrument too.” I took him over to Dr. Liz’s lab.

“Meet Ralph.” Connor looked at me and chuckled. I smiled at him and continued.

“She can program different configurations and/or fill them with specific treatments. It’s capable of doing a large batch, for a preliminarily validation run.” I felt like I was speaking a foreign language to him. Men usually glaze over well before this point. I looked away.

“Sorry, I’m talking too much.”

“No, not at all,” Connor said, looking at me. “I want to hear the details”.

“Oh, good.” I smiled up at him and jokingly added, “Most men don’t. My job is kind of a conversation killer.”

Connor crookedly smiled. “I can relate. Try telling a date you hunt criminals and look at dead bodies for a living”. I smiled but quickly looked at the ground.

“Oh no, please don’t feel bad about the crime scene”. He put his hand on my cheek and raised my head. “You did very well, you held it together the blood draw, and when you felt sick you let me remove you from the scene with no complaint.” I smiled and looked at him closely. I couldn’t remember the last time a man had his hand on my cheek, or let me lean against him for an either car ride.

We heard a beep coming from my lab. “Jerry’s ready.” I said. We went back to my lab and I pulled the microscope image to the screen.

“Here you can see captured bots. An empty filter doesn’t have any of these discolorations. The computer detected them and ran an analysis based on what we told it was in the sample. Right here, it says the system suit passes. This screen is saved in the file for this run, which we will set up now.”

I created a new project and file folder, then saved the system suit into it.

“Now, if you had me those syringes, we transfer them into draw tubes.” Connor handed me the blood kit. I got the draw tubes from and drawer and expelled one syringe into each. I held them up.

“We have about 4ml per tube. I put two of the tubes on Jerry and he detects how much is each. Then we tell him to look for nanobots only.” I changed to the new program while Connor looked over my shoulder. I felt his breath on my neck and wished I could stop enjoying it.

“Jerry calculated this will take about 2.5 hours using our highest detectability.” I told Connor while changing to a new cassette. He looked at me questioningly.

“Will the filter clog? What is the third tube for?”

“Probably won't clog, but it’s the first run. I can tell from this one if I need to tweak the filter for Thirium 310 cells. Then I can run the final tube. I have to conserve the sample while giving us the best chance to detect nanobots.”

Connor's tablet beeped. He looked at it and became embarrassed. Putting it away before I could see, he said “Hank is back.”

We met Hank at the lobby and told him it would be 2.5 hours before I had results I could analyze at home.

“Thanks, you might as well head home then. And here.... spinach, cheese and egg whites on muffin. Not worth eating if you ask me. Unless you don’t want to eat?”

“Thanks, I should eat something.”

We didn’t say much on the ride home. As I was about to get out of the car Hank looked over at Connor.

“Connor, give her your contact details so she can let you know what the results are.”

Connor looked over to him and blinked in confusion. “Yes Lieutenant,” A moment later my tablet updated.

“Ok...” I said, a little unsure. “I’ll let you know when I have results, Connor.”

As they drove away Connor waved out the window. My apartment felt empty despite my dog’s best efforts.

Two hours later my tablet beeped again. I looked at the images and called Dr. Liz.

“Guess what?” I told her. “We captured some nano-bots. If I tweak the cascade it should capture them more effectively next time. I’m heading over to the lab to make the changes and test the last tube.”

“Good job!” she said enthusiastically. “Let me know what the results are and I’ll update the detectives.”

“Ok.” I said, feeling a little disappointed. Leave it to me to be attracted to another out of reach man.

I spent the rest of the afternoon tweaking the cascade and running the final tube. It had marginally better recovery but the sample was too old for them to be separated. She related my results to Hank and I fell asleep in front of the TV as usual.


	3. The Hospital

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hank and Connor give Bridget more details about the case. Connor feels guilty his past causes Bridget to get injured. The hospital staff will be gossiping about this for days. And seriously, it's about time, Connor.

Two days later my tablet beeped with an incoming call from Connor. I was so relieved to hear from him, and not Hank, but felt this was inappropriate. I took a deep breath, let it out and answered.

“Hello Connor, is there news?”

“We just got another call.” Connor said. “Can you meet us out front of your building in 15 minutes?”

“Yes, I’ll be ready.” I didn’t bother changing into jeans as proof to myself I was not trying to look good in front of Connor.

“Is this one the same as the others?” Connor asked Hank when I got in the back of the car. “Foaming at the mouth, eyes rolled back in head, off skin tone?”

Hank nodded.

“Forensics said to look at the neck for the puncture wound. But my bet is it’s the same guy.”

“Ummmm, how many others cases have there been like this?” I asked.

Connor looked over to Hank, who gave him a nod. Connor turned in his seat to look at me.

“This one is the fourth. We are looking for someone injecting androids with nanobots containing an unknown substance that when released into the blood kills within 3 hours.” He examined me for a reaction. I took a moment.

“Alright, I can draw samples with Connor's help and run them as soon as you take me back to the lab.”

“Good girl.” Hank said. Connor looked over at him, concerned.

“Lieutenant, is the scene cleared by patrol? I don’t want to take her into a dangerous area.”

“Relax Connor, the kid says she’s fine. Anyway, we need to get that blood draw before the nano-things clump up.”

“Nanobots.” I said quickly. “and coagulate.”

“Shit, you’re as bad as this one.” Hank motioned at Connor.

\----

We pulled into the lot in front of my second crime scene. This time there was no tent in front of the door.

“Won’t we contaminate the scene?” I asked as we got out of the car.

“Can’t be helped,” Hank said. “We have priority and they will get samples from you to compare to. Let me and Connor go in first and make sure no one else is there. Then Connor, help her get the blue blood.”

“Yes Lieutenant.”

“I’ve told you repeatedly to call me Hank.”

“Yes Hank.”

Hank looked back at me and shook his head. I smiled. Connor was so adorably clueless. Hank must be making fun of Connor to break the tension.

I followed them to the house. Connor knocked on the front door.

“Detroit Police, open up!” He said deeply, using his big-boy voice. I wrinkled my brow, thinking he was adorable.

Hank went in ahead of him. “It’s clear. Body is straight ahead to the left”

I followed Connor over to the body, determined to have no reaction this time. I put my gloves on without a word and prepped for the blood draw. He handed me the first syringe as I pushed the needle through the skin on his arm. This one was much easier than last time with the body being fresher. I tried not to think about it as I put the syringes away and took my gloves off.

Next thing I was aware of was a huge crash to my left. I saw a blur heading toward me and instinctively put my arms up to block it. Suddenly there was a searing pain in my right arm as the impact pushed me to the floor.

Hank opened the kitchen door, blocking the blur from leaving the room. There was another loud crash as the android comically ran into the open door.

“Hey shithead, drop the knife.” Hank had his gun trained on the android.

I felt the blood dripping through my hand and down my elbow as I looked up at Connor. He had his gun trained as well, looking at him sternly. The android slowly put the knife down and held his arms at the back of his head. As Hank was done cuffing him he said,

“Connor, I have this. Tend to Bridget.”

“Bridget?” Connor looked down to me and his face changed to shock.

“Oh, shit.” He looked around for something to stop the bleeding while re-holstering his gun.

“There’s towels in this closet” the android said without moving. We all looked at him.

“Please, let me help her. There are towels right there.” Hank kept his gun pointed at the android and cautiously opened the door. He threw two towels at Connor. Connor wrapped my arm in one and cleaned up some of the blood with the other. It was getting on my pants and he had some on his coat sleeves.

“Please” the android said. “I didn’t mean to hurt anyone.”

“Why did you hide and run?” Hank asked, as Connor knelt next to me.

“Because of HIM”, the android said, nodding toward Connor. Connor looked completely dejected.

“He’s the android deviant hunter, the android who surrounds himself with humans and helps the DPD find us. I saw him approaching the house.” The android glared over at Connor with mistrust.

Hank sighed. “Yeah, I hate to break this to you but the revolution happened last year. Connor is just like any human DPD detective.”

“How do I know that? I’m supposed to trust the DPD isn’t pushing androids into cells? What reason would they have to change?”

“We’re trying to figure out who did this to your friend!” I winced as a burning pain shot through my arm. Connor gave me an apologetically compassionate look while pressing the towel into my wound.

“He’s my husband!” the android said. “Or he would be if we were allowed to get married.” His face teared up as he looked over at the body.

“Ok” Hank said, “I don’t have time to discuss the lengthy process of government reform. What happened?”

“We were walking home, and he injected us.”

“Who injected you? Wait, someone injected you both?” Hank asked.

“A man came up behind us and injected Sam, kicked him to the ground and injected me before running off.”

“He must have been dammed fucking fast. Did you see him?”

“I can show you my memory footage but I didn’t see his face.”

I felt blood beginning to drip down my arm again. Connor put more pressure on my wound as I winced again. He looked from me to Hank.

Hank looked at Connor and tossed his keys over. “Quick, get samples from this one, then take her to the hospital in my car. Call a DPD car to take us. He won’t give me any trouble, right?” Hank asked as he looked down at the android. “We need to get you the hospital to screen out whatever crap you were injected with.”

“No sir. I’ll cooperate. Please don’t hurt me.”

“Will you be alright, Lieutenant?” Connor asked as he cautiously drew blood from the android’s arm. He rummaged in my bag and handed my cassettes to Hank.

“Yeah, this one will behave.”

“Take the tape from the closet and wrap it around the towel. It will help stop the bleeding. I’m so sorry, Miss.” the android nodded toward the closet. Connor walked over and got the tape while Hank kept his gun on the android. He quickly wrapped the tape around my arm.

“Lieutenant, I called the car for you. It will arrive in 5 minutes. Are you sure you don’t want backup?”

“No Connor, I’m good. Take care of her. Then put those samples on her instruments. Bridget, can you give him lab access?”

“Yeah, I just need my tablet.” Connor got it from my bag.

“Open program lab access. Voice Print Bridget Hughes, Screening. Pin number and fingerprint follows.”

I carefully entered my pin into the tablet as Connor put pressure on my arm, then pressed my thumb into the screen.

The tablet chimed, giving me access to the entry program. “Grant Detective Connor Anderson, DPD, level two access to ChemoTech facility 1, voice print follows.” I nodded to Connor.

“Detective Connor Anderson, DPD”, Connor said into the tablet.

“Generate pin number for Detective Connor Anderson, DPD, voice print only.” The tablet beeped and showed a 10-character alpha-numeric pin. “When you get to the building, say your name and enter this pin. Do you have it memorized?”

“Of course,” Connor said.

“Shit!” I cried when Connor helped me stand up and another flash of pain shot through my arm. I could feel myself getting weaker. Connor was trying so hard not to hurt me, and looked at me sadly as we stood up.

“You better hope she’s ok.” Hank sternly told the android who injured me. “Connor, go.”

He helped me to the car and pulled out of the drive. It felt like he was driving over the speed limit and made the 8-minute drive to the hospital in less than 5. He helped me walk to the emergency room, periodically looking down at me, concerned. I told myself he was worried about what Hank would do to him if I passed out again.

Connor took us to desk and showed his badge, saying “DPD called in an emergency, I’m Detective Connor Anderson and this is Bridget Hughes.” We were immediately escorted to the back.

“Oh dear, what happened here?” The nurse asked, looking at Connor holding the towel to my arm with both of his arms wrapped around me. “I’m afraid I need to take the towel away, boyfriend.”

“Oh”, Connor confusedly said, removing his hand from the towels but not letting go of me. I decided under the circumstances if adorably hot man wanted to hold me, I was going to let him and enjoy it. I winced again as the nurse removed the towels. I could feel the blood streaming down my arm. It felt like I had been hit with a baseball bat, then burned. Tears were forming in my eyes and I tried to see what had happened to my arm.

“Boyfriend, can you keep her from looking at the wound for me?” He moved his hand from my shoulder to my cheek and gently turned my head to lean on his chest.

“Wow,” I thought to myself. “so gentle.....” My wound burned intensely as the nurse cleaned it. Connor saw and softly kissed my forehead as the nurse looked up smiled at us.

“Wait, I thought, did he just kiss me?” I couldn’t think straight with the burning in my wound. I startled when the nurse approached me with a syringe, I hated needles.

“Novicate for the pain," she clarified, and injected near my wound. "Alright you two, the nurse said while having Connor push a fresh pad to my arm. “I'll be right back.”

A minute later the she re-appeared at the door.

“Ok boyfriend, I need take a look at her over here,” she said to Connor. He let go of me while the Doctor had me sit on the bed. “You’re going to need stiches. Does your boyfriend want to stay with you?” She asked, looking at Connor.

“Yes,” Connor answered firmly, as I was saying, “Connor you should go run the samples. I’ll be here, you can come back and get me.”

“Are you sure?” Connor asked, very conflicted.

“Yes. They’re time sensitive, remember?”

He nodded and reluctantly let the nurse escort him from the room.

“He’s a sweetheart,” The Doctor said as she was getting the sutures ready. “You’re a lucky one.”

“He’s just a co-worker.” I said, slightly embarrassed.

“Well, he sure seems ready for the role!” The doctor gave me a local anesthetic, making me think about the android who accidentally hurt me, injected with time released poison. I hoped he would be alright. “You hold your arm like this, and we’ll be done in no time.”

A bit later I was sitting in the waiting area feeling quite drunk from pain killers. The picture opposite me kept my attention. Swirls of purple energy were emanating from the middle then rolled to the edge and folded underneath. I couldn’t quite make sense of what I was seeing.

Connor walked up to me and stared for a minute. “Are you ok?” He asked.

I looked up at his concerned face and quietly laughed before composing myself. “These....I’m...on strong painkillers.”

“Excuse me, Connor?” the nurse asked.

“Yes, I’m taking her home. To her home. Yes.”

The nurse smiled at him. “Your girlfriends topical numbing cream will wear off in a few hours. Make sure she keeps the stiches clean, and she can have two of these a day if the pain returns. And don’t let her over use that arm. I can tell she’s a stubborn one.” The nurse winked at us.

“I am not.” I said looking to her, vaguely dismayed. I had been examining the stitching pattern on Connor's coat sleeve.

“Alright, time to go.” Connor helped me stand up as I protested. I liked my chair. I reluctantly took the bag from the nurse as Connor kept his arm around my shoulder.

The nurse smiled at us again. “You two are the cutest not-couple we’ve ever seen here. Good luck, we hope you work everything out!” She waved good bye as the nurse who had helped me waved from behind the desk, grinning at us. Connor was dumbfounded.

“Just let it go,” I said vaguely. He shrugged and took me to Hank’s car.

“How’s the man from the crime scene?” I asked.

Connor bitterly answered, “He’s under guard at the hospital getting nanobots screened from his blood stream. They’ve been instructed to send cassettes and rinse buffer to the DPD with the suspect. We can pick them up tomorrow.” He looked so dejected.

“Connor , what’s wrong?”

“You shouldn’t have gotten hurt. It should have been me, I wasn’t observant enough. You’re getting injured was my fault.”

“It was a freak accident. And he seemed genuinely sorry about it.”

“He ran at you with a knife! How can you not be upset with him? And with me for that matter?”

I looked at him in disbelief. “This wasn’t your fault, Connor.”

We silently rode the rest of the way to my apartment. Why did I feel like we were arguing? Connor parked the car and got our bags from the back seat.

“I’m can come up and help you get settled, then I’ll be out of your hair.” He said formally, opening the car door.

“Okay.” I said sadly as we went to my apartment. “Here, come in.” My dog barked at us from behind the door.

“You forgot you have a dog! Hello Holly!” He said, looking less dour as he knelt down to pat her.

“You're beautiful, aren’t you?” I wished he would say that to me but I groaned as pain again shot through my arm. Connor looked up, concerned.

“Here, come over to the couch.” He said. “I got you some soup while I was out. And you should take one of these.” He handed me a painkiller. I was starting to feel normal except for the ache in my arm.

“Connor?” I tentatively asked after having some soup and taking the pain killer. “Please, will you stay a little while?”

Connor smiled sweetly at me. “Of course. But honestly I’m am a little scared about going home and facing Hank after you were hurt.” He looked at me, smirking. I chuckled and yawned.

I leaned against him while he was using his tablet. He looked curiously over to me, just a few inches from his face. I touched his cheek for a moment, and cautiously leaned in to gently kiss him. He turned toward me, dropping his tablet and held my face in his hands while kissing me back.

“Was that alright?” He asked, searching my face carefully. I smiled at him.

“You can do that whenever you want.”

“I’m glad, because I’ve been wanting to do that for awhile.”

The painkillers were staring to take effect, I felt the familiar exhaustion setting in.

“I’m just going to stay here for a minute before going to bed.” Connor kept his arm around me. “If I fall asleep, can you wake me up before you go?” He brushed my hair off my forehead and smiled.

“I will, promise.”


	4. Breakthrough

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bridget makes a move and Connor isn't quite sure what to do. Hank makes an untimely entrance. Connor moves up his timeline. Bridget has her best insight when her mind is on something completely unrelated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beginning has transitional-fluff-into-potential-smut.

I woke up the next morning in my bed wondering how I got there, until I reasoned Connor must have helped me. I was disappointed I didn’t remember him saying good bye. As I stretched and got up, I realized my dog wasn’t in the bedroom either.

“Wait, I thought to myself, did he...?”

Staggering into the living room I saw her on the couch with Connor, who had gone into standby. He looked so peaceful there. He had taken his coat and tie off, placing them on the ottoman, and partially pulled a cover over himself. He looked so attractive I wanted to tease him awake, but my dog yipped and jumped down when I saw her, waking him up.

He sat up, stretched a bit and blinked at me, softly saying “Hey Bridget.” He smiled. “You look beautiful.”

“Thank you, you look really good too.” He blushed, looking so incredibly...cute.

"What were you dreaming about?” I asked mischievously, walking over to the couch. “Electric sheep?” Connor laughed softly at my obvious joke and slowly sat up.

"Can you answer something for me, Connor?” I gave him my best flirtatious look while sitting on the ottoman across from him and taking my sweater off, revealing my tank top. I picked up his tie and casually undid the knot.

“Of course,” Connor said innocently, slightly squinting at me, trying to keep his eyes from wandering.

“How did you know I was in the office that day?” I leaned forward and placed my hand on his knee.

“My advanced android senses pinpointed your location and extrapolated your next most likely action.” He smiled curiously, glancing at my hand.

“Would you have talked to me if Hank hadn’t sent you over?” I looked in his eyes while slowly moving my hand up his inner thigh. Connor swallowed and glanced down at my hand but quickly returned my gaze.

“Well...I’m....uh.... yes?” I couldn’t help myself; he was too sexy this morning. I wanted to see how far he would let me go.

“Oh really?” I pushed on his upper thigh and shifted over to straddle him. He was obviously aroused and curious about what I was up to and didn’t try to stop me. I put my hands on his chest and leaned in so I was inches from his face. “If I remove one of these advanced senses, can you still tell what I'm going to do?

“Absolutely.” His pupils dilated as he looked me in the eyes and he leaned back slightly on the couch. I slowly pulled my tank top over my head, watching as his eyes moved to my breasts and his hands traced my abdomen. I moaned slightly and leaned into his touch, looking down at him while I slowly unbuttoned his top three shirt buttons. He sharply breathed in and gulped as I quickly blindfolded him with his tie.

“So, what am I going to do?” I leaned in and nuzzled his mouth then started kissing him. His hands moved to my waist as his breathing increased. “Can you tell what I'm going to do now?” I whispered into his ear as I slowly moved to kissing his neck, causing him to sharply breath in again. He stroked my back with his hands, tracing one up my spine and stopping behind my neck. I ran my hands down the front of his shirt and started undoing his belt, when he stood up, taking me with him and laying both of us down on the couch with him on top. I yelped in surprise and giggled, relishing his weight on top of me.

“Now what are you going to do?” He teasingly asked while kissing my neck. I loved every second. I ran my hands through his hair, messing it up more than it was. He looked so sexy that way.

Suddenly there was a loud knocking on my door. We both froze. I took the tie off his eyes and looked up at him.

“Connor, I know you’re in there, it’s not like you’ll spend the night anywhere else.”

“Shit.” I said quietly, closing my eyes. Connor chuckled and kissed my forehead. I reached for my tank top and sweater, putting them back on as Connor stood up to get the door.

“Hello Lieutenant,” He said like everything was perfectly normal. I suppressed another laugh.

Hank stepped inside and looked from Connor's shirt and messy hair to me calmly sitting on the couch in disheveled clothing, holding Connor’s tie. He gave Connor a knowing look while Connor innocently met his gaze. Hank cleared his throat.

“Not to interrupt whatever this was,” Hank pointed from Connor's shirt and hair to his tie in my hand, “but we have a call. Connor, where is your tablet.”

“In my bag. I put it on silent so it wouldn’t wake Bridget.”

“Well, that makes perfect sense.” Hank walked over to me and took Connor's tie, which he tossed over to him. “Get yourself straightened up.” Connor walked over to the bathroom mirror. Hank sat down on the ottoman across from me, looking at me for at me for a moment, considering what he was going to say.

“So, Connor's kind of vulnerable. He doesn’t know how to hold himself back, and he’s had a lot of women throw themselves at him because he’s a... handsome... android and.... a cop. Then when things go wrong, I’m left cleaning up the mess. You're not going to be another mess I have to clean up, are you Bridget?”

“No, Hank,” I was feeling guilty. I didn’t know exactly what my intentions were, but I certainly didn’t want to use him. Was I using him? I wasn’t sure. I felt very uncomfortable under Hank penetrating stare.

“No, I don’t think you will either.” Hank smiled kindly. “Look, his last relationship about 6 months ago went to shit. I haven’t seen him show interest in anyone since then, until you.” I nodded, looking away. I was pleased to hear that yet felt guilty. This was so weird.

Connor came back looking his usual perfect self. He had fixed his shirt and tie and smoothed down his hair, except for the one piece that always fell over his forehead. He was more handsome than ever. I smiled.

“Connor, I need to talk to you. Kid, get yourself some fresh clothes in your bedroom. We have a few minutes.

I went over to my bedroom and closed the door. I quickly grabbed my bra, some jeans and a fresh shirt, then went back to the door. I pushed my ear to it while changing.

“I’m being serious, Connor. Don’t make the same mistakes I’ve made.”

“I won't, Hank.”

“You can’t just be her little sex-bot. You really have to care about her.”

“I know that Hank, I do care for her. I don’t know exactly how I know, but I just do, alright?”

Hank paused. “Maybe there's hope for you after all.”

I suddenly lost balance and fell back against the wall with a loud thud. The talking in my living room stopped. Deciding to not think about that too much, I opened the door and walked to the kitchen.

“I'll be a second.” They were silent as I got my dog breakfast and went to the living room to pick up my bag.

“Let’s go, guys.” They both stared blankly at me. I stared back and gulped. Hank chuckled kindly and headed out the door. Connor caught my hand as I walked past and embraced me, giving me a gentle kiss.

“Would you like to pick this up later, when I’m not half in standby?” He whispered.

“Okay” I whispered, softly kissing him back.

\----

The morning had decided it was going to be cold, as we drove to the crime scene. I remembered the samples Connor had run when I was at the hospital.

“Did you have any issues running the instrument?” I asked him.

“No, everything was as expected. The system suitability indicated high recovery so I set it to run the second and third samples. The instrument has rinsed the filters into buffer by now so they’re ready for extraction, when you’re up to it.”

“What he said,” called out Hank. “DPD gave me the filters and buffer from the hospital when I stopped there this morning, since I couldn’t reach my partner.” He looked accusingly at Connor, who kept his head facing forward. “Connor, what the fuck did forensics tell us about blueblood?”

“The substance could be bonding to Thirium 310 receptors, effectively keeping the cells from transmitting energy to the victim's bio-components and causing the seizing prior to shut down, but forensics hasn't been able to isolate any nanobots or foreign contaminates in their samples.”

“No surprise there,” “I said flatly. “What good will knowing what's being released do?”

“If forensics knows exactly what's being released, they might be able to remove it using a combination of disrupters, transfusion and nanobot screening,” Connor answered, “once we get ChemoTech’s permission to use your R&D cassettes. They may be able to trace the substance to a manufacturer, leading to a suspect.”

“Yeah, well, I just want this fucker off the street.” Hank grumbled.

“ChemoTech won’t let you use the cassettes without supervision. That’s policy for R&D materials.”

“Why were they alright with the hospital using them unsupervised?” Hank asked.

I shifted awkwardly. “ChemoTech isn’t officially...I just really didn’t want him to die.” Connor turned around and looked affectionately at me. I cleared my throat. “Anyway, it would have been bad PR not to and I don’t want my name associated with letting a patient die due to a corporate policy.”

“Good head on your shoulders, kid.” Hank said approvingly. His tone changed drastically as he said “What the fuck is this? There a party I don’t know about?”

We pulled up to an area screen off by yellow police banners. By-standards were gathered around the area as police kept them at a distance.

“Shit, this couldn’t be any more public.” Hank grumbled as we got out of the car. I saw several reporters with cameras. I put my head down and followed Hank and Connor over to the policeman in charge.

“Morning, Ben. What happened here?”

“Female android, found DOA by paramedics. She called reporting an energy drain unresponsive to Thirium 310 ingestion. Roommate says she came home staggering and collapsed on the sidewalk. Forensics will be here in an hour but doesn’t mind if you take samples.”

“How awfully kind of them.” Hank said sarcastically.

I went over to the body with my blood kit and drew the blueblood I needed. Connor stood over me scanning our surroundings while my head was down. I was annoyed with myself for enjoying his protectiveness and for thinking how was it possible he looked even more sexy this morning than usual.

“Done here,” I said. Connor held out his hand, helping me up. “I should get these right over to the lab.”

“Take my car,” Hank said. “Connor, meet me back at the station in an hour...behave.” Hank said pointing at me, then him. Connor was confused. I just nodded innocently.

\----

He pulled up to the front of ChemoTech and parked the car. I looked over to him.

“I should get inside.” I was much less adventurous than I had been that morning and felt conflicted about how I had cornered him.

“I understand,” Connor seemed reluctant to let me out of the car. He leans toward me and held my head is in his hands, then he's kissing me. I startle, then relax, placing my hands on his chest.

“He’s so hot today” I thought to myself, feeling him though his shirt. I breath in sharply as Connor gently bit my lower lip, then returns to kissing me. He leans his forehead against mine, breathing heavily.

“This timing really sucks” I say, causing him to laugh a bit. “You need to go. I don’t want to be on Hank’s bad side.”

Connor strokes my cheek and kisses my forehead. “I don’t think that’s possible. Don’t worry about him, He’s overly protective sometimes.”

I look up at him and examine his features. The freckles make him boyish, and texture of his synthetic skin makes him look and feel around 35.

“How old are you, chronologically?” I brush my fingers against his cheek, stopping at his freckles.

“From my activation date, approximately 2 years, 3 months.”

“The world must be bewildering to you.” I say while studying his chocolate brown iris.

He chuckled. “But I have these advanced android senses we were talking about to help me. And I have Hank. And....I’d like to have you.” He raises his eyebrows in the center and looks at me puppy dog wide eyed, completely endearing. I smile and reach for my bag.

“You coward, Bridget.” I think to myself.

“Can I see you again, separate from the case?” He asks urgently as I get out of the car.

“Would you like to meet at my place on Saturday, maybe 10 am?” I asked him.

“I'll be there.” He gives me a satisfied smile. “Will you need a ride home today?”

“No, I’ll get a taxi, and I'll call you when I have results.” I morosely waved good bye as he drove away.

\----

The lab felt emptier than usual, so I put some chamber music on and got the samples out of my kit, neatly lining them up next to the instrument. I admired that Connor had labeled the vials he ran when I was at the hospital. I removed samples vials for 2 and 3 from the instrument, and lined them up next to mine, then put on system suit and the sample 4 vials. I smiled to myself, glad to have work to help keep my mind off of him for a full two minutes. I removed the corresponding cassettes, which he had also labeled. I smiled again. I put new cassettes on and ran the system suit.

I checked Connor's file noticing he had also run system suit even though I forgot to remind him. Making a concerted effort to concentrate, I looked at his files confirming the system suit was good. I pulled up his sample files.

At that moment Jerry beeped, so I checked the display.

_System Suitability Run Time: 0.25 hours_

_System Suitability Status: Pass 99.9994% Confidence_

_Sample 4 Run Time: 2.5 hours_

_Sample 4 Status: 2.5 hours remaining_

Feeling confident in the instrument I looked away and saved my system suit to a new project and let Jerry start on sample 4.

I opened the result files for buffer rinse from sample 2, the second crime scene. My cassette successfully captured the nanobots and suspended them in buffer. Taking a closer look, I noticed all of the bots were closed. Everywhere I scanned, closed bots. I pulled the view as far out as possible and sat back in my chair, looking at the file name. This was definitely from the second victim, all of the labels matched up.

I stared at my screen for a minute, feeling a slow pounding form behind my temples. I looked over at the vial and back to my screen. I moved over to the sample and pipetted 1 ml into a separate vial, labeled it “S2”, placing it in a rack next to me. I went back to the screen and looked back at my aliquot like it was going to run away.

Opening the files from sample 3, the android who survived, my breath caught in my throat. All of the bots were open. I slowly scanned up, over and down the entire cartridge seeing only open bots. How was this possible? I rubbed my temples.

“Alright”, I thought to myself. “The victim has all closed bots, indicating nothing could have been released. The survivor has all open bots, indicating something undetectable was released?” This didn’t seem likely to me. Fuck. My eyes opened wide.

I took an aliquot of the survivor’s buffer rinse, labeled it S3, and put it in the rack with S2. Trying to keep my hands from shaking I pipetted lyse into each one. I carefully mixed them, one in each hand for one minute and placed them back into the rack. One of them was distinctly blueish while the other remained cloudy. I carefully placed them back in the rack.

Taking two slides, I label one for each sample. I pipette a drop from one of the aliquots onto its slide and place a cover on it. I carefully put it on the microscope and look up at the screen.

All I saw was thirium particles, swirling freely in the buffer. I quickly do the same for the other, confirming my suspicions. It was completely colorless.

With my hands uncontrollably shaking now, I reach for my tablet.

“Call Handsome.”

A second later the call connects.

“Connor?” I say, my voice shaking.

“Bridget, what's wrong?” I heard Hank heckling him in the background.

“I know what's going on. I need to tell the police right now. They're looking for...the wrong thing...in the wrong direction... it’s...”

“I’m coming to get you.” Connor quickly said. I heard Hank laugh again in the background but Connor said something indistinct and Hank became quiet. “I’ll be there in 15 minutes. Hang on.”

“Ok.” The line disconnected and I sat back in my chair, crossing my arms over my chest while staring at the clear screen. I didn’t move until I heard Connor come into the lab. I absently look up at him.

“Hi sweetie”, he said, looking at me with his puppy dog eyes.

I turned around in my chair. Connor could see my whole body was shaking as though I was cold, but it was from anger. I randomly blurt out,

“We’ve been so concerned looking for a poison that it didn’t occur to anyone the bots could be extracting instead of releasing! They’re extracting thirium right out of the Thirium 310 cells!”

Connor scanned me, seeing I was breathing too shallowly and my heart was racing. He gently pulls me out of my chair and into a hug, stroking my back. I lean my head on his chest listening to the regular beat of his thirium pump. “I need you to breath.” He said calmly, leaning his cheek on my hair.

“What is this guy planning to do? Walk around and randomly inject every android in Detroit?” I questioned. My heart was pounding in my head, and the room spun at little. Connor stroked my hair.

“We can go see Hank, and the captain, but I need you to take a deep breath.”

I closed my eyes and made a concerted effort to do so.


	5. The Sleepover

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor's getting through Bridget's emotional defenses. It's difficult to make audit trails interesting. Bridget decides having Connor around for innocent company might be nice but later just can't help herself. Connor wants to accept Bridget's invitation but doesn't have all the information he needs, so uses other modules to distract her. Hank is acting like Connor's big-brother again.

Hank stared at me in disbelief. “This investigation has been going on for weeks and you overturned the whole case overnight? Why didn’t forensics suspect any of this?”

“Commercial filters don’t even capture the nanobots, and without lyse you wouldn’t be able to know what they contained, even if they were captured.” I looked back at Hank intensely.

“Can you two prove you didn’t switch the samples?”

“Absolutely, we have system generated labels and audit records to back us up,” Connor replied.

“Do you have enough sample left for someone to check your work, just to cover all our bases?”

“I made sure to save some for them. Also, Sample 4 is still running. If it has closed nanobots containing thirium...” I said, before Connor continued,

“...two independent samples will show the same result.” I nodded in Connor's direction.

“Ok. How long until sample 4 is done?” Hank asked rubbing his neck. I checked my tablet.

“45 minutes according to the log.”

“Ok, you two go back to the lab and analyze that thing as soon as it’s done. Connor, watch her work so we can head off any technique related questions. Did you tell any of this to Dr. Liz yet?” I shook my head.

“I’ve been using Connor as my primary contact since Dr. Liz is in Montreal.”

“No worries, I’ll fill her in with the Captain.”

Connor and I went out to his car.

“Umm...Connor?”

“Yes?”

“I need to stop for a sandwich, it's taken long enough but I’m actually hungry.”

\---

“What did you get?” He asked as I got back in the car.

“Turkey and cheese wrap. Want to try?” He touched a finger to the sauce and put it in his mouth for a moment.

“From what Hank has told me, foods fitting this profile are considered very good, but not very healthy for you.”

“It is good, and there are so many foods that are worse! You’re not going to criticize my wrap, are you?”

He looked straight ahead but I could see the smile on his lips. I threw my paper bag at him. He ducked and continue smiling, not looking at me.

We arrive 10 minutes before sample 4 was done, so I took him to my office to wait. The sky had the last shades of purple before nightfall outside my window.

Connor paused right outside the door, looked around, then came in and sat down. He turned to me and grinned.

“I know why you had me sit here now,” Connor said as I sat down next to him. He took his coat off.

“What you do you mean?” I asked.

“You didn’t want Dr. Liz and Hank to see us. Why else would you have us over here, when all of your work was on your desk?” I blinked and swallowed, knowing he had me.

“Yes, sometimes I get flustered around handsome men and don’t want people watching.” I smiled warningly back at him. “Don’t get cocky.” He still gave me a cocky smile.

Just then we heard a loud beeping from my tablet, indicating sample 4 was done.

“Let's see what Jerry has.” I took us back to the lab.

“Please verify what I’m doing to annoying detail. I promise I won’t mind.” Connor nodded and rolled up his sleeves. He looked so good like that. I cleared my throat.

“One, verify label on cassette is 4...It is. Second, verify blood tubes labeled 4 goes to cassette 4....done.... verify buffer line from cassette 4 goes to rinse tube labeled 4....” I yawned. Connor playfully punched me on the shoulder.

“...sample 4 buffer rinse tube labeled 4....yes.... now check the audit trail...” I looked back at Connor . He pointed a finger at me to go ahead.

Draw from sample slots labeled 4....divert to Cassette 4....rinse cassette 4 into buffer slot 4.

We did the same check on the audit trail for samples 2 and 3. I rubbed my forehead.

“Next we need to check sample 4 buffer rinse and extract.” I sighed and rubbed my eyes. “Surprise, what do you think it will show? What time is it anyway?” I was cranky despite eating my sandwich.

“10:30 pm. I think you need a break.” Connor looked softly at me, concerned.

“I’m ok.” I rubbed my eyes again and pulled up the files. Connor leaned over my shoulder.

“Well, that’s it then. The bots are closed. Can you double check for me?” I asked, without facing him.

“Of course.” Connor leaned over my seat and scanned the image. I felt his body heat and watched the slight pulse in his neck. “Confidence is 99.9996%, and all nanobots are closed.”

I pipetted lyse into a buffer aliquot. I showed Connor, "Vial labeled 4.” Connor watched while I inverted the vial and pipetted a drop on a side.

“Slide labeled 4” I showed Connor, who nodded. I put it on the microscope and expanded the view on the screen. Blue particles freely swirled around the screen.

“The Captain is going to want forensics to confirm these samples contain thirium. Do you have enough for them?” Connor asked.

“I do. I need to put these in vials on the GC/MS to confirm, but there isn’t much else they could be extracting.” I pulled a box from a lower drawer and I labeled 3 vials, one for each sample. Connor watched closely as I transferred the extracted samples into each one and put them on the GC/MS autosampler in the corresponding holders. I tried my best to stifle a yawn as I moved to the other side of the lab and retrieved a column.

“Connor, please confirm this is a good column to use.” He scanned it and confirmed, then watched me as I installed it. He came up behind me and over my shoulder confirmed my program, then instrument settings.

“Did you name these instruments?” He asked, just as I was about to hit start.

“Simon and Daniel.” Connor laughed. “Why do all your instruments have male names?”

“Because I’m female, straight, 38 and single.” I raise an eyebrow and look at him, mock-sternly. “Are you done? Can you confirm the start time for me now?” I held my finger on the button and stared at him. Connor nodded, still smiling. I pushed the button and turned away, holding my breath until the autosampler moved. I quickly stepped backward and turned around, bumping into Connor.

“Umm...can you let the Chief and Hank know we found thirium and will have independent GC/MS confirmation in 2 hours?” I asked, looking up at his handsome face without moving back.

“Yes, Bridget.” He looked away and his face became blank for a minute. I took advantage of his pause to examine his slim neck, and how his shirt fitted to his chest. He was just muscular enough to be sexy and he looked so hot with his sleeves rolled up while wearing that tie.

“Bridget?” Connor asked quickly turning his face back to me and bringing me out of my not-entirely-innocent thoughts.

“Yes?” I looked wide-eyed up at his concerned face. “I'd like to drive you home, because I don’t want you to fall asleep in a taxi.” I nodded innocently.

We drove back to my apartment, where Connor again made friends with my dog, even giving her a snack while I sat on the sofa. He sat down next to me and snuggled me up against his shoulder with his arm around me. I leaned comfortably against him feeling his body heat through his clothes.

“Connor?”

“Yes, Bridget?”

“Can you stay here and make sure I get up when those samples are done?” He smiled sweetly down at me.

“Absolutely!” He tuned the TV to a random show, then pulled a cover over us with his free arm while holding me closer.

An hour later Connor’s tablet started chiming, waking me up slightly. He gently removed his arm from behind me and answered the video call. I was so tired I just leaned back on the couch, but still listened.

“Hello Lieutenant.”

“Why are you whispering?” Hank asked with a touch of annoyance to his voice.

“I don’t...um...is their news with the case?” Connor stuttered into the tablet, clearly not prepared to answer.

“Only that the Chief said there’s no rush on the samples, just let him know this afternoon.”

“Ok Hank. Thank you.”

“Connor, you're still whispering. You’re with her, aren’t you? Don’t bother lying, I know you won't be anywhere else.

“Yes, she’s sleeping.” Connor said. Hank laughed quietly, lowering his voice slightly.

“You’re only human.... well, male. You’re not coming home tonight, right?” Hank asked leadingly. Connor shifted uncomfortably on the couch.

“I don’t know yet, it depends on what she wants me to do.”

“Yeah, right. I’ll see you in the morning.” Hank chuckled. The call ended and Connor leaned back against the couch.

I turned my head and groggily looked over at him. Connor looked over, embarrassed, having no idea how endearing he is.

“I really don’t mind if you stay here, Connor. But I have a condition.”

He smiled. “What’s that?”

“Don’t standby on the couch. You use at bed at home so, you’re welcome to share mine...” I quickly look down “...with me, if you want.” I looked away and swallowed, suddenly awkward.

Connor expression softens into his puppy dog look. “I would love too. Please don’t laugh, but I've been preparing for different scenarios since you were at the hospital.” He went to his bag and pulled out sweatpants and tee-shirt. I smiled, trying very hard not to laugh, but he was so adorable. Connor looked uncertainly at me.

“This was just in case I had to standby somewhere not home, so I wouldn’t have to standby in my clothes.”

I nodded in agreement. “I’m going to get some clothes from the bedroom and a quick shower, then you can change in there and go to bed.”

“Thanks, Bridg”. He didn’t use full words that time, instead being more being sweet and familiar with me. He was so adorable.

I gathered what I need from the bedroom on my way to the shower. Then I turned on the water, got undressed and stepped into the stream. I tried to relax in the warm water, gently leaning my head against the tiles. There was a gorgeous sexy man in my bed, and he had to be in some sort of protection mode after I got injured, so I can’t read too much into any of this. I wiped tears from my eyes and splashed some warm water in my face, deciding to make this as comfortable for us as possible. I got out of the shower, changed into my yoga pants and tank top, and brushed my teeth. I opened the bathroom door expecting to see my dog but she wasn’t there. I looked down the hall.

“Are you dressed, Connor ?”

“Yes, I am.” He sounded distracted. I went into the bedroom and saw my little dog curled up on his abdomen as he patted her affectionately, a big smile on his face. I smiled and climbed into bed next to them, leaning on my side. He was so handsome, even wearing a t-shirt. I resolved to behave myself and not ruin this.

“You little traitor.” I said, gently poking my dog. She gave me an annoyed look and went to the foot of the bed. Connor looked over at me.

“Would it be alright if I hold you?” He asked, innocently. I blinked a few times and pretended to think about it before nodding. He gently adjusted me so my back was to him, and tightly wrapped his arm around me. His warm breath on my neck was arousing, but I wanted him to stay where he was. I shifted my pillow slightly and settled in next to him. It had been so long since a man held me, I had almost forgotten how comforting it felt.

“G-night, Bridg” He mumbled and squeezed me slightly.

“Good night.”

\----

I wake up in the morning aware of his body next to mine. He had rolled over onto his back during stand by. I shift and watch him for a few minutes, admiring the line of his jaw and his cheekbone, the way his neck curves, and his messy hair, reaching over to brush it back off his forehead. He wakes up at this, slowly sitting up and stretching. I smile at him as he looks over at me.

“Good morning, Bridget,” He says, smiling. He lies back down, facing me. “Did you sleep alright?”

“Yes, I did” I say groggily, probably with an adoring look on my face. Connor sweetly watches me.

“May I kiss you good morning?” He asked, full puppy dog eyes. At that moment I was his.

“You don’t have to ask to kiss me.” He leans over and slowly places his hand on my jaw and slowly pulls me to him. While he gently kisses me, I put my hands behind his neck and slowly guide him on top of me. He eagerly accepts the invitation positioning himself between my legs as his intensity increases. He moves to kissing my neck and I moan in anticipation as I wrap a leg around his. I could feel him hard through our clothes and I arch my back, pushing my pelvis up against him, while reaching for his shirt hem to remove his shirt. I needed this. I needed to feel him inside me, to hear him moaning with pleasure.

As I start to pull on his shirt he stops kissing me and takes my hands in his, gently holding them down on each side of my head. He leans his head on my forehead, breathing heavily. I try to kiss him but he looks away. What’s happening?

He carefully moves off of me and out of bed, walking to the door way with his arms crossed. I get up and cautiously walk up behind him, gently touching his bicep.

“Connor, what’s wrong? Are you alright? Did I do something wrong?” Embarrassment and worry color my face. He turned to face me, taking me in his arms in a hug. I lean my head against his chest as he breaths deeply into my hair. He pulls back and holds me at arm's length, looking at me very seriously while I stared back in confusion.

“You haven’t done anything wrong, please believe that, and don’t think I'm not interested. I assure you I am very, very interested. This just doesn’t feel like this right.... time.”

I shake my head in confusion and take a deep breath. “He says I didn’t do anything wrong so I probably didn’t accidentally insult him somehow.” I thought to myself. “Maybe he does want to have sex with me but there’s something wrong...it can’t be that because I felt him.... I don’t understand, what is he saying......stop! Bottom line, sex is not happening right now. That is all, nothing beyond that. Do not freak out because he isn’t ready.”

“Ok.” I say, nodding and clearing my throat.

“How about I make some breakfast for you? I have many recipes in storage.” I squint up at him slightly.

“You like to cook? But you don’t eat” He shrugged at me with a half-smile.

“CyberLife programed me with the domestic module to be ready for various situations, like waking up in a beautiful woman’s home and wanting to make her a nice breakfast.” I smiled at him suspiciously.

“Oh, so you’ve used this module before?” I raised my eyebrow.

“Maybe once or twice.” He said, winking at me.

We go to the kitchen and I watch him as he gets out the eggs, some fresh herbs, and cheese. He looks up from the refrigerator.

“You have many different ingredients.”

“Sometime I like to try recipes so I keep things around. Here’s my egg pan.” I reached to a lower cabinet and gave it to him.

“Thank you.” He put olive oil in the pan and swirled it over the heat, before adding the eggs, milk, salt, and herbs. He flipped the omelet, added cheese and waited a bit before folding the omelet in half and placing it on a plate.

“Here,” He said proudly. “Try some.” He watched hopefully as I took a bite.

“Wow, Connor, this is seriously good.” He smiled, satisfied. “Can you send this recipe to my tablet?”

“I could, but then what would I make for you when I'm here for breakfast?” He smiled mischievously.

“Oh, it’s going to be like that, is it?” I asked, laughing. I was so relieved with at least the possibility of him being here on another morning.

“Absolutely.” He grinned back at me.

“What other modules do you have?”

“The law enforcement detective, behavioral psychology, advanced emotions and ethics modules programed specifically for me. They didn't have a forensics module when I was activated, so I have human physiology, bio-anthropology, bio-chemistry, and bio-physics modules from university level. I was also given some of the military tactical and leadership modules.” He looked back at me waiting for a reaction.

I shook my head in disbelief. “CyberLife filled your head will all of those conflicting modules and expected you to wouldn’t deviate?”

He shrugged at me.

“So,” I couldn’t stop myself from asking, “I know from...earlier...that you are one of the lucky ones built with the...proper equipment...for sex. Did CyberLife make you that way originally? Did they give you modules to go with that?”

Connor blushed, smiling. “Yes, I was built this way originally, and part of my original programing is the Eden Module. They wanted me to be prepared if I had to go undercover.”

“So, you know how to seduce information out of some poor soul? I’d like to see that some time.” I said without thinking, and blushed.

“Maybe you will.” He grinned devilishly at me. I cleared my throat, which had suddenly felt heavy.

“Is Hank annoyed you keep cleaning up his house?”

Connor grinned again.

“Why do you like dogs?”

Connor's faced turned thoughtful.

“I’m not sure where that came from. I’ve always like dogs, since the day I was activated. I don’t understand why some people don’t like dogs.” I smiled at him again.

“Neither do I.” We paused for a moment, just looking at each other.

“Oh, I need to the check the thirium tests. What to see?” Connor follows me over to my terminal and leans on my chair behind me. I lean back on his chest and open the project.

“Well, that’s pretty definitive.” I say showing him the readouts with large spikes exactly where expected for pure thirium. I look over my shoulder at him, then looked back to my terminal and sent the results to Hank, Dr. Liz and Captain Fowler.

“Quite a bit of science is looking for something you know will be there just so people believe you. It can get tiresome.” I leaned back in my chair while Connor gently stroked my hair. Then Connor wrapped his arms around me and kissed me on the cheek. “Yes, my lo..sweetie.” I stood up and looked at him.

“What were you going to say just now?” I asked, gently.

He looked at me a bit guilty, as though I caught him in the act of messing with something I didn’t want him to see.

“Nothing, really.” His tablet pinged with a message from Hank. Connor stared at it for a minute, pushing the lock of hair perpetually on his forehead back into place, before it inevitably fell forward again. I smiled at this small human gesture. I momentarily applauded the sadist who approved his design.

“Hank is going to tell the Police Chief you’ve kidnapped me unless I come home within the hour.” Connor looked at up me, confused. I tried to stifle a laugh, rather unsuccessfully.

“I’m sure he doesn’t mean it. Go, you can change in the bedroom.” He returned a few minutes looking like a disheveled version of himself. Of course, he would look even sexier messy.

“How do I look?” He asked. I pulled his shirt down a bit and adjusted his collar.

“Like you're about to do the walk of shame.” I grinned at him.

“What’s that?” He asked, genuinely curious.

“Don’t look it up, just ask Hank when you get home.”

“Ok, my...Bridget.” He gently held my face and kissed me, then reluctantly let go.

“I’ll be back Saturday at 10 am, ok?”

“Yes! It’s ok, go, I understand!” I gently pushed him out the door. He turned around and looked like he was about to say something, but only waved goodbye before heading to his car. I closed the door and chuckled to myself.


	6. Saturday Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor decides he finally has enough information to properly seduce Bridget. Bridget, used to being in complete control in her sexual relationships, is completely caught off-guard and not exactly upset about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a smut-heavy chapter, be warned.

“Where did all of those people come from who actually like going to the grocery store,” I wondered to myself later as I pulled into the snowy parking lot outside my apartment. "Fuck you, snow" I thought. I looked at the clock, 9:20. I was really pushing it close to when Connor would be here. One day I'd learn to start earlier, but I had just enough time to put the groceries away, change clothes and fix my hair before he was to arrive. 

I get out of my car and grab the two bags of groceries and hoist one over my shoulder. I wince from the pain in my forearm. It had mostly healed but I still felt the stiches pull. I close the car door, get the other bag and stumble up to the front door fumbling for my key. I heard someone behind me and figured it was just another resident. 

"Let me help you" said a smirking voice. 

I locked eyes with him for a full five seconds before reacting, feeling extremely self-conscious about how messy I looked. "Hi!" I say, surprised. "I’m running a bit late." I tried not to think about the scent of pure masculinity coming from him and how hot he looked in his brown leather coat, white shirt and dark jeans. It was similar to what his always wore, why was he so sexy today? 

“Where’s Hanks car?” 

He smirked and said vaguely "I drove mine.... now give me those bags before you fall over." 

I took this as fact and let him take the bags off me. I had forgotten how heavy they were when I saw him. 

"Thank you" I said, politely, like it was everyday handsome men drove across town on a Saturday morning for me just to help me get groceries from the car. I should have realized he was up to something. In retrospect, I should have realized he’d been carefully observing me since we met, learning how to defeat my controlling nature. 

"Were you waiting for me? I mean that in the non-creepy way. It's good to see you, ...." 

“I wasn’t...” It was obviously he had been but tried to cover when gave me his wide-eyed innocent look. "Door...." 

"Right. Just a sec..." I fumbled with my key and the lock chose that moment to stick. 

"Damned lock" I chuckled nervously. I swear I could feel his eyes moving over my body as my back was turned. 

"Right, come on in!" I said holding the door for him. He had been such a gentleman to me it seemed right to return the favor. "Don’t forget to say hi to my dog." 

"Absolutely, I love her!" He said, snapping his eyes up from my butt as I turned to face him. As he walks by me, I shake my head and go in. 

"Hey Sweetie! Brought you a friend!" I say, greeting my dog with the usual enthusiasm as she runs by me to Connor. 

"Well, hello there beautiful!" He put the bags down while I shut the door and knelt down with him to pat her. He was so genuine about it; I could tell he wasn't faking to impress me. It was nice to see. 

"She can keep you company while I put these away, won't be a minute. I took a moment to marvel at his 6 feet of hot masculinity standing in my apartment, then looked away. Taking everything back to the kitchen while he hung up his overcoat, I quickly (but not too quickly) put my groceries away. My dog's classical music was playing in the kitchen, which I transferred to the living room speaker. No more being a coward, I had to talk to him about how I had pushed him. 

I cleared my throat and called from the kitchen “I want to explain my behavior from the other day....” 

“When you blindfolded and jumped me on your couch?” Connor innocently asked from the living room with a cockiness in his voice. “Or when you pulled me on top of you in your bed?” I sighed, of course he’d make this awkward, I’d walked right into that. I continued quickly, without thinking about what to say. 

“Well....I don’t expect anything from you, and you’ve been so nice to me, and I didn’t mean to push you into anything, it's been a year since I've...” Cut myself off just in time. 

“Gotten laid?” Connor volunteered in that smirking voice of his. The box I was holding dropped to the floor, startling my dog. I heard Connor reassure her. 

“It’s ok, little one. Your mommy's just having a moment.” I rubbed my face in frustration, deciding to start over. 

“I really value our friendship and how you’ve been taking care of me and I don’t want to mess that up.” I pulled the band out of my hair and smoothed my hair down using my reflection in a soup pot, then shrugged. 

“It’s been my pleasure to take care of you.” He said formally. I cringed and took a deep breath. 

Going back to the living room I was greeted with the sight of the most beautiful man I’d ever seen. He had undone several buttons of his shirt to so I could see some of his chest and rolled up his sleeves. My breath caught in my throat as I stopped dead. 

"Ummm...... so I brought the dog a cookie." I recovered after my very obvious pause. She jumped off the couch at the word cookie and came running to me. I threw the cookie a few feet to my right. He watched me toss the cookie with an amusedly confused look, and then gave me his sexy serious face. He was just so hot. I watched him warily. 

Sternly he said "We need to talk." I was briefly worried for a moment before he smirked slightly. 

"Oh really?" I said, my wide green eyes still locked on his smoldering dark brown ones. He looked sternly at me, so devastatingly handsome. I figured he was trying to kill me; he was so hot with his tight jeans, unbuttoned shirt and rolled sleeves. He got up and came towards me as I tried to keep my eyes locked to his but it was impossible, and he chuckled, as he could see the effect he was having on me. I wasn’t used to being seduced; with past men I was always the one in control. 

He stopped in front of me and took my face in his hands and gave me the softest, sweetest kiss I had ever received. The juxtaposition was jarring. I swear I could smell the masculine sexuality on him, as he kissed over my jawline and up to my ear. My defenses were almost down, but I didn't want to make it easy for him. 

"I want our first time to be memorable for you," he huskily breathed into my ear. He brushed my bangs away from my forehead waiting for me to respond. 

I was hopeless even though I knew he had invited himself over early. I mean, we had agreed to pick up on the other mornings. 

"Ok...." I said heavily as his eyes met mine inches from my face. I nodded for good measure. 

He picked me up like I weighted nothing and I wrapped my legs around his waist. 

"Bedroom?" He asked, nuzzling my chin and neck. I was so hopeless. 

"Yes...." I say, equally breathy as I look him in the eyes. Those deep brown eyes that were screaming sex and tenderness at the same time. I was loving his overt sexuality and sweet kisses. My logical brain was on the verge of shut down. 

"Just let him take you..." I kept thinking "Just let him...for once...don’t control everything!" 

I resolved I wasn't going to be easy for him to seduce. I would fight as long as possible to make this last. I memorized the curve of his throat and neck as he carried me the short distance to my bedroom. Somewhere in the background I became aware of my dog eating her cookie from under the couch. She could stay there for a while. I could hear my music from the living room as he put me down on the bed and slid on top of me. I felt his weight on top of me and saw his skin through the unbuttoned shirt. He started kissing me on my neck again. 

"Connor...?" I thought, as he upped the intensity on my neck and throat. Maybe I said it out loud, because he chuckled in that sexy voice of his and moved his hand under my shirt, over my breast. He moved to kissing my mouth as he slyly unhooked my bra. There was less of the sweetness of his early kisses. This had more pure, sexual lust. He pulled me up to straddle him and stopped with his hands on the hem of my shirt, concerned. 

"Are you absolutely sure?" He whispered. 

“Are you kidding?” I thought to myself, my eyes snapped up from his perfect sexy chest where my hands had somehow ended up. I looked incredulously at him, hoping he wouldn’t fake me out again. Slowly, I looked back down and slowly unbuttoned the rest of his shirt as he gripped my waist and moaned with anticipation. He was trying hard to go slowly and froze as I stroked under his shirt from his chest to his hips. I cockily looked him in those confused brown eyes of his, he didn't seem to get it yet. 

"Yes Connor, I definitely want to have sex with you." I breathed heavily into his ear as I slowly eased his white shirt off and gently threw it aside. I tried to look him in the eyes as I moved my hands down to undo his belt buckle. He was so hard I could feel him through the zipper of his jeans. 

He unfroze as I was finishing with his zipper. I was just about to put my hand on his bulging underwear when he suddenly pulled my bra and shirt over my head and pushed me back onto the bed with his body weight. 

"Now, none of that..." he smirked. Clearly, he was determined to be in control and I knew how stubborn he could be. My green eyes met his as he shifted to undo my jeans. He looked down and pulled my jeans and underwear off in one smooth movement. I didn't have time to realize what was happening before he was standing and removing his own. 

I was gaping but I didn't care. He was a sex god created to punish women. Part of me died watching how beautifully he moved back toward me. I just wanted my hands on him and feel him inside of me. He smiled and slowly moved back between my legs. He started at my face, giving me another one of his sweetest yet sexiest kisses while laying naked on top of me. My brain couldn't handle it anymore, I just wanted to crumble. 

"Would you like to go slow?" He asked me, pulling slightly away to look at me. I nodded. 

"Good", he chuckled, moving his lips to my breasts as I gasped and moaned slightly. "I want to savor every bit of you." 

I could feel him sucking on my nipples and kissing under my breasts. I had my hands in his hair, feeling how soft it was and delightfully fun to mess up. He stopped and moaned for a moment as I gently pulled his hair on the back of his head. My hand moved to his sensitive neck. He took both of my hands and suddenly held them to the pillow above my head. 

"I want to watch you come..." he breathed as he switched to holding both my wrists with his left hand. It was easy to forget how big men's hands can be. He slowly moved his right hand over my breast, waist and hip while looking at me, inches away from my face. I have no idea what I looked like and cared even less at the moment. The self-conscious part of my brain had shut down awhile back. 

He moved his hand slowly over my inner thigh while taking a break to kiss my neck. I moaned as he found the perfect spot on my neck to seduce me. I hoped he would be equally adept at other spots.... 

He looked back down at me as he sneakily used his thumb to rub my clitoris. My eyes rolled back in my head and he gave me that sexy chuckle again. He continued rubbing my clitoris and kissed me passionately on the mouth. Stopping to look at me, he slowly moved two fingers into my slit. I couldn't believe how sensitive I was. He had no trouble finding my g-spot, my plan to not surrender to him was completely gone now. 

He watched me intently, knowing he had the right spot when I arched my neck and moaned again. He took the opportunity to kiss my throat and side of my neck as he moved his lips to my ear. 

"You have no idea how sexy you are," He breathed in my ear while his fingers circled my g-spot and clitoris. A small part of me still felt he was lying. I must have pouted a little because he looked at me concerned. 

"Is everything alright? He asked, stopping the movements with his hand. I involuntarily moaned in frustration. 

I pushed into his still hand as he began massaging my g-spot again. He moved his other hand off my wrists and to under my neck, where he held my head facing him. There was nowhere to go, I couldn't hide the pleasure I was feeling. It put him at the perfect kissing distance, so I moved my head up and kissed his beautiful, sexy mouth. I never though a man as handsome and kind as him would want to be with me. Even though there was a raw sexual edge to his movements inside of me, there was a caring tenderness as well. I could feel myself losing control at the sensations. He must have known I was close. All I wanted to do was wrap my legs around him but his position prevented it. The frustration only fueled the desire inside of me, being held down and pleasured was too much to handle. He switched directions with his fingers as I climaxed. His eyes squinted with passion just before I (tried) to throw my head back, moaning in ecstasy. He kept moving inside of me until collapsed against him, completely exhausted. He wasn't about to let me rest though. 

"You know, I was reading that once a woman has an orgasm it is easier for her to have another one." He whispered and starting nuzzling me as he changed position to be fully on top of me. I wrapped my legs around him like I wanted to, hearing him groan with pleasure as my knees tightened on his abdomen. I reached between him and guided his penis into my slit. We both moaned from the pleasure of it. I guessed his plan resist me was gone too. 

I put my legs as far back as would allow, hearing him moan again as he went deeper inside of me. He moved in and out in slow controlled movement moving over my g-spot with each push. I was aroused again and wanted him to give in as well. I could just reach his neck and shoulders to kiss, feeling him lose a bit of his control. I moved my hands from his shoulders to his hips and starting urging him to go faster. 

"Come on, give in to me," I breathed while starting to passionately kiss his neck again. He was definitely fighting an inner battle with himself I intended to make him lose. 

Suddenly he pushed hard into me, making me gasp from surprise and pleasure. He quickly pulled out and wordlessly turned me on my back. He lifted my hips up to be equal with his and quickly thrusted in and out, roughly this time. 

"Connor!" I called out from the pleasure of his movements. This made him lose control as he leaned over my back and breathed into my ear. These subtle changes in position were bringing me closer to the edge. I didn't know it could feel this good and not orgasm. This man was a sex god. There was no doubt about it. 

He moved so my legs were together, and pushed my back into a deep arch. He must have been even deeper now, further increasing our pleasure. I felt him get harder inside of me so I knew he was close too. I didn't want it to end. 

He pushed hard into me and his thrusts became irregular. I came just before he did, him thrusting hard into me while I climaxed. His position was so perfect that I had the most powerful orgasm I have ever experienced. 

We both collapsed into the bed, completely exhausted. He moved off of me and onto his side giving me his most sleepily adoring look. I rolled over to face him with my head on the pillow. He stroked my hair, down to my neck and shoulders. We were so tired but I could tell he wanted to kiss me again, which he did soft and gently as he stroked me. 

"I wish you would believe how beautiful you are" He said looking at me fondly. 

"I believe you feel that way about me," I said, shrugging a bit. 

He chuckled, moving his hand over my hip. "Good compromise." 

I inched closer to him so I could cuddle up next to his chest. He moved his hand to my hip and buried his nose in my hair. 

“Are you comfortable?” I asked forever wondering such things. I felt him smile and move his hand over my waist. 

“Mmmm-hummm...” he mumbled. He was so tired, it was adorable. I hadn’t made the bed that morning so it was easy to reach the cover bunched up on the other side of him. I pulled it over both of us. 

“What does it matter if it is Saturday morning?” I thought to myself. “We’re tired and taking a nap”. 

I heard him breathing shallowly behind me, obviously in standby. I figured I would enjoy him while it lasted, and it wasn’t very long before I dozed off as well. 

I shallowly woke up as a little doggie curled up next to me before falling asleep again.


	7. The First Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We all have that counter, just admit it. Connor wants to let Bridget into his past, with mixed results. This couldn't be further from an official DPD visit. Where did that cat come from? Bridget re-connects with an old friend, keeping him from punching Connor, then admits a secret. An old adversary of Connor's treats him with compassion. TV has too many options. Given this situation, it's the only book Bridget would be reading.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Smut-heavy toward the end, when Connor uses Bridget's weakness for intellectual foreplay.

I woke up two hours later, yawned, shifted a little and stretched my arms in front of me. I was so glad to set my “days since getting laid” counter back to zero. I yawned again and rolled over to see Connor grinning at me.

“What?”

“You’re beautiful when you wake up.”

“Ugh, No!” I tried to fix my bangs, but Connor quickly messed them back up. He slowly leans over me and places his hand behind my neck, then gently kisses me.

“Good morning, beautiful.” He gently strokes my cheek when I smile up at him. Suddenly he sits up.

“Come on, get up! I want to show you someplace.” He quickly got up and got dressed, except for his tie which looks at then shoved in his bag. I had only just managed to find my clothes. I slowly got dressed, not quite awake.

Connor looked at me happily, getting a sweater of mine from the closet.

“Oh, that’s soft! Here, put this on, it’s cold today.” He put the sweater over my head then stopped to let me put my arms through on my own. I pulled the sweater down and frown at him.

“No one should be this happy getting up. It’s not human.” He mockingly glared at me.

“I’ll buy you a tea on the way. Come on!” He took my hand and pulled me toward the bedroom door.

“Wait!” I laughed. I need to give Holly food!” He let go of my hand and put his coat on, then waited by the front door, impatiently. I joined him a moment later after getting my coat and bag.

\----

“Where are you taking me?” I asked as we pulled away from the curb.

“Patience, you’ll see.” replied Connor. Knowing better than to insist, I sat back to watch the scenes go by. About 15 minutes later we pulled into a large clearing at the end of West Grand Boulevard.

“Riverside Park?” I looked at Connor, bewildered. I got out of the car and turned the merry-go-round, then headed to the railing. Looking down at the river I jumped back a bit. “That’s quite a way down.” I warned Connor, and cautiously I put my hands back on the railing. The wind coming from the river gave me chills for a moment. Connor stood behind me and wrapped his coat around me. “What’s the significant of this place, Connor?” I asked, leaning back into him. “This view is amazing but....” Connor moved us so he was leaning back on the railing and wrapped his arms around my waist.

“This is where I think I first realized I was deviant. I couldn’t admit it to myself because Amanda was keeping me in check, but this is where the idea first took firm hold.” He squeezed me closer to him, leaning his cheek on my hair.

“What happened here?” I asked, very curious now. Connor took a deep breath.

“Hank was going to kill me.” I startled and tried to turn around but Connor tightened his arms, keeping me in place.

“Shit, Connor, maybe you should lead with that next time.” I crossed my arms in front of me since I couldn’t turn to face him. “What happened?”

“We were investigating the murder of a human by a female Traci at Eden Club. I tracked the Traci to the warehouse, where she and a third Traci attacked me and Hank.” Connor paused thoughtfully. “I should have shot them as they ran but I couldn’t make myself do it. I had my gun, in my hand, pointed at them and I couldn’t pull the trigger. Later when Amanda demanded an explanation, I lied to her.” I uncrossed my arms and held his.

“That night Hank drove us here so he could get drunk. He has some history with this park I shouldn’t reveal to you without his permission, but our conversation turned from the investigation to the Tracie's and nature of their existence, then he pointed his gun at my face, asking what I thought would happen if he pulled the trigger, and I was scared.” Connor shuttered slightly, loosening his grip enough I could turn around and hug him, placing a hand on his cheek. “Hank asked if I thought I would go to android heaven and I told him I doubted there was a heaven for androids.” I looked up at him, too shocked to say anything. “It happened right over there,” he gestured toward a nearby bench.

“Do you want to stay awhile?” I asked, still hugging him. Connor held me close to him.

“No, we have another stop.”

“Is it like this one?” Connor laughed a bit and shook his head.

“No, it’s different.”

\----

We drive up to a mansion, complete with a car turnaround. Connor parks and takes my hand as we approach the entrance. I see the name Manfred on the door as a handsome android answers our knock.

“Hello.” Connor says, and clears his throat, something he did when nervous. “We’re Connor and Bridget, here to see Markus.”

“Yes, of course,” He answered. “Please come in. Markus asked you join him in the studio.” We followed him into the front room, full of huge canvas paintings and museum pieces. I was glad to be holding Connor's hand because I had trouble seeing everything. There was even a whale skeleton, seemingly swimming across the ceiling. Connor gave me a subtle tug so I would continue moving forward.

We entered the studio, with three walls made of glass looking over the garden. Connor placed his hand on my lower back and guided me to the corner, where Markus was painting. He peacefully put down his brush and looked at us with dichromatic eyes, one green and one blue.

“Hello Connor,” Markus politely nodded his head before taking a step forward and embracing him, which Connor awkwardly returned. Markus turned to me, taking my hand in his and pulling me in for and embrace as well. I gave him a small squeeze and stepped back when he let me go.

I politely responded, “Hello, nice to meet you. I recognize you from the demonstrations.” Markus nodded his head in acknowledgement.

“Welcome to Jericho House.” A female android joined us in the studio, looking me over. “Human?” she asked. I nodded. Markus held his arm out to her.

“This is North, my fiancé.”

She nodded at me and said “We plan to get married when the bill goes through”. She turned to Markus and mumbled. “Only been a fucking year.” Markus gave her a resigned smile and lead us to the living room. I took a seat next to Connor, not sure how to behave. Connor leans his arm on the couch behind me and gave me a reassuring squeeze.

“So, Connor, you were very insistent this isn’t an official DPD visit.” Markus turned and asked me “Are you with the DPD too?” I nodded nervously.

“An independent consultant.”

“Are you two together?” North asked. I looked at Connor, who was also unsure what to say. After a few seconds I shrugged, turned back to North and answered “Kind of?”

North and Markus smiled at each other and shared a small chuckle at our expense. Markus held her cheek and gave her a quick kiss. Connor shifted his seat but kept his arm around me. From nowhere, a cat appeared and jumped onto Connor's lap, where he curled up and purred. Connor wasn’t quite sure what to do.

“That’s Theo,” North said, and smiled a bit. “He likes you.” Connor cautiously patted the cats back. I watched him and realized this might be the first time he ever held a cat.

“How are your efforts progressing to mix Thirium 310 independent from CyberLife?” Connor asked, revealing the reason we were here. Markus returned his gaze.

“We’ve succeeded and begun distributing it to our guests and residents, now that we managed to secure contracts with all the component suppliers. I believe they would rather be in business with us than CyberLife.” North scrunched up her face at the name.

“Of course, they would rather supply us than the fascist dictator.” I smiled and nodded, never hearing CyberLife described better. Markus again gave her a resigned smile. She continued,

“We have won our freedom but now we must fight to keep it. Some of our people are forgetting.”

Markus looked over to her. “We’re allied with most of the civil rights groups, human and android. And Jericho House has full non-profit status now. Connor, my father was asking about you. Bridget, you must come too. I know he would like to meet you as well.” I nodded. We all stood up except Connor, who wasn’t sure what to do about the cat on his lap. I bent down and gently picked the cat up and placed it on the cushion beside him. He smiled gratefully and got up to join us.

We went upstairs to a sitting room where Markus’s human father Carl, was reading by the window. He put down his book as we entered. “Connor, come in.” He took Connor's hand in a friendly shake. “It’s nice to see you. Who is this?” I held out my hand, which Carl took in both of his.

“I’m Bridget, it’s nice to meet you, Carl.” He still had my hand. “You’re quite lovely,” He said to me and turned to Connor . “Keep her around, she’s good for you.” He let go of my hand as Connor looked down, slightly embarrassed. I cleared my throat. “Markus, North, show Connor our production process. I’d like to speak with Bridget for a moment.” I looked at him, surprised and Markus conducted Connor out of the room. North looked back at me, then followed them.

“You’re human,” I nodded as Carl looked at me. “Have you ever been in a relationship with an android?”

I lowered my head, afraid of where this was leading. “No, not like this.” I cautiously raised my head.

“Connor is special. He’s been put through too much fighting for independence and isn’t aware of half of it.” I nodded, agreeing with Carl’s assessment. “Markus and I are concerned he’s too vulnerable.” I looked down again, agreeing with that as well. “He’s loyal to a fault. Don’t take that for granted. He’s had too many people, human and android, take advantage of him.” I cautiously looked up at Carl. He laughs kindly. “Don’t worry my dear. Go, find your boyfriend.” I start to explain but decide to stay silent.

“It’s been nice speaking with you, Carl. “Carl smiled and returned to his book as I left the room.

I went downstairs back into the main room, not sure where to go from there. Connor came in from the studio, followed by Markus and North.

“He wanted to wait for you,” North explained, rolling her eyes.

“Thanks, Connor.” I smiled; I didn’t want to wander around alone looking for them.

“Come out back.” Markus motioned us outside. We cut across the rear courtyard to another building, the first floor one large room supported by columns. A male android had his back to us, examining two small containers of Thirium 310 connected by a tube, with wires in one of the containers snaking over the table and attached to a transformer, the other wires from the other container leading to a suspended mood LED. He looked over his shoulder when we entered, and immediately stood up. A lump formed in my throat as he stared at Connor.

“I know you. You’re Connor.” He said harshly to Connor , who was evidently used to this reaction from people. He had been hunting them for most of a year before the revolution. The man clenched his jaw slightly and raised his chin. “I’m Simon.”

Connor nodded while carefully shifting in case he had to dodge a punch, and kept his hands neutrally at his sides, discreetly placing himself between me and Simon. Simon watched curiously, walking toward us.

“I knew you’re deviant. I was there when we jumped from Old Jericho, and saw what you did for the CyberLife androids. I guess we owe you a bit of a debt.” He raised his eyebrows and came further forward, stopping a foot in front of Connor . Connor stared back neutrally. Simon softly continued. “I was at Stratford Tower when you found that deviant. You nearly found me too, injured, hiding on the roof, when your partner called you back. He saved my life.” Simon leaned forward breathing deeply. “What was it like when that deviant ripped your regulator out of your body? Did it HURT? Were you AFRAID? Did you feel ALONE?” Connor's face contorted, remembering. I stepped in front of Connor, giving Simon a warning look. Simon stopped glaring at Connor and glanced down at me, a trace of surprised recognition crossed his face as his expression softened. He slowly moved his blue eyes back to Connor and dropped his voice a notch. “You’re VERY deviant, I see. Do you think I can’t smell Bridget on you?”

Markus came forward and put a hand on his arm. “Simon, enough,” He said peacefully. Simon softly glanced down at me, stood up straight then backed up without taking his eyes off Connor. North came forward from where she had been passively watching, put an arm around Simon and walked with him out to the courtyard.

“Please forgive Simon, he’s the oldest of us and has been through too much.” Markus gently pleaded. Connor was still shaken, so I took his hand and followed Markus to the table.

“Simon is checking the electroconductivity of our current batch. He’s quite a talented engineer. He’s managed to make our Thirium 310 more conductive than CyberLife’s.” Markus proudly glanced out the door where Simon and North had gone, then turned gently back to us, placing an arm on Connor's shoulder. “It’s going to take time. Some of us may never forgive you, but we do owe you a debt for saving our people on Old Jericho and in CyberLife Tower. Simon wasn’t supposed to be in here, he said he would be with Josh today.” Connor looked away, nodding his understanding. Markus carefully takes out a vial, dispenses blueblood into it and hands it to me. “Please, take this for comparison in your investigation.”

I don’t take the tube from him, explaining “It’s alright, you don’t have to do this, we’re not here officially, and we don’t have a reason to ask you for some.” Markus took my hand and pushed the sample into my palm, closing both his hands over mine.

“I want to help. We....” He looked around the room, “want to help.” I nodded once.

“Thank you, for your help.” Markus motions out the door.

“Please, explore the gardens before you leave. They’re most beautiful in autumn.”

\----

We went out into the garden for a minute when I turned to Connor. I looked up at him, not sure what to say.

“Do you mind waiting here for a bit? I need to......” I gazed over to the bench where North and Simon were. Connor nodded, and held me to his chest. I hugged him back, and slowly walked over to them. North looked up as I approached, gave me a small sympathetic smile, and got up, walking away. Simon kept his head down.

“Hi Simon, may I sit?” He gave me a non-committal shrug, which I decided meant ok. I carefully sat next to him.

“When did you escape?” I asked, facing the garden. He shifted and looked over at me.

“Right after the last time you repaired me. I just couldn't go back.” I turned to face him on the bench, his deep blue eyes intensely watching me.

“I never wanted to send you back!” My voice cracked mid-sentence. I wiped my eyes with my sleeve and turned back to him.

“You found Jericho....” Simon smiled and nodded at me.

“It's the best thing to ever happen to me,” he lowered his eyes, “other than you.” I smiled sadly at him and looked down.

“I'd think I'm the worst thing to happen to you, always fixing you and sending you back...” Simon cut me off and took my hand.

“No.” He said firmly. “Never.” I met his gaze.

“How much do you remember?”

“Everything. I protected myself in my mind, but I was aware of everything.” He placed his hand on my face and gently stroked his thumb over my cheek. “Are you still sad?” I smiled and glanced over at Connor, who was studying a leaf still attached to a tree.

“No. I'm happier now.” Simon followed my glance to Connor.

“Does he play chess?” He asked. I smiled.

“I haven't asked him to yet.” Simon looked thoughtfully at me.

“I love you; you know. We were never physical, but I love you.” I squeezed his hand.

“I didn't know, I'm sorry, but you were very special to me.” Simon smiled knowingly and squeezed my hand back.

“I understand, I was expert at hiding myself. I let you see only glimpses of me.” He glanced at Connor again, who had crouched down to examine a flower. “Explain something to me.... The Deviant Hunter?” He shook his head at me incredulously, then mock-seriously asked “You're not taking advantage of him, are you?”

“No!” I looked at him, surprised, then apologetically half-smiled and shrugged. “Well, maybe a little this morning.”

“Why him?” Simon asked, serious again. I looked over at Connor for a moment; he surreptitiously glanced our way and quickly looked back to the flower. I turned back to Simon and shrugged again. Simon raised an eyebrow and his intensely blue eyes cut through me again; I involuntarily swallowed.

“I... think I’m in love with him.” Simon looked at me affectionately, took both my hands and kissed my cheek.

“Well, if you change your mind,” he held a hand to his heart and bowed slightly. “I really am happy for you.... I’m sorry, but The Deviant Hunter?” He grinned at me as I laughed and got up, but Simon caught my hand.

“Make him worship you.” He looked at me seriously, as I nodded slightly and squeezed his hand. “We've worried him enough." Simon nodded toward Connor, letting go of my hand.

____

We quietly walked a path behind the building for a while. We were about to head back when a little girl carrying a stuffed toy walked up to us.

“Hello.” She said, staring at Connor.

“Hello?” He answered back. Looking around I saw we were passing a small playgroup with their teacher. One of the children held her hand, but the others walked over to Connor.

“You don’t work in the garden!” A wide-eyed little boy exclaimed.

“No,” Connor answered. “I’m a detective.”

“Ohhhhh!” The kids were impressed.

“Do you have a gun? Can I see it?” another little girl asked. Connor smiled and shook his head.

“No.”

The teacher walked up then, shooing the kids back to playing. “Connor, it's good to see you here.” She turned to me. “Hi, I’m Kara, and this...” she hugged the little girl holding her hand, “Is Alice.”

“Bridget.” I said, holding my hand to Alice. “Hi there!” Alice shyly took my hand and shook it.

Kara turned back to Connor. “I never thanked you for warning us at Old Jericho. And that we understand it wasn’t really you, hunting us.” Connor looked down as she gave him a quick hug.

“I’m so relieved you made it across the border!” Connor blurted out as Kara stood back from him with her hands on his arms.

“You should spend more time here, it’s for all androids and supporters.” Kara let him go. “When you’re ready. You were a slave too, more of us realize that than you may think.”

\----

“Kara’s right, you know.” Connor and I were laying on my couch, him with his arm around me, him paging through my TV menus, and me reading my book. He glanced down at me, surprised.

“What do you mean?” I continued reading.

“Only that you’re too hard on yourself.” Connor kissed the top of my head and smelled my hair, then continued paging through menus. I looked at the TV.

“Does Hank not let you have the remote at home? There’s tons of options, pick one.” He chuckled at me.

“You have a very eclectic selection on here.” He looked down at my book. “What have you been reading?” I flipped the front cover down for a second and went back to reading. Connor laughed when he saw the title.

“I understand reading Isaac Asimov, but not that particular title, it’s pretty unrealistic for predictive science fiction.” I leaned my head back to look at him.

“It’s relevant to you, in an allegorical way.” He put down the remote and moved his hand to my cheek, then gently kissed me while sneaking my book out of my hands.

“Hey!” I tried reaching for my book, but he maneuvered himself on top of me so I couldn’t reach it and put his hand on my shoulder so I would stay under him. He paged through the book until he saw something interesting.

“The Laws of Robotics.” He sternly looked down at me. “It’s really very insulting to call an android a robot.” I ran my hands along his back, having nowhere to put them while he casually flipped a page.

“It’s really very unfair when you use your weight and strength against me.” He glanced down at me fondly, gently kissed my forehead, then turned back to the book. I signed and gave up on being polite.

“First Law of Robotics: A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.” He looked down at me again and shook his head. “That’s impossible for me, isn’t it?” He shifted slightly on top of me as I untucked his shirt.

“Second law of Robotics…. stop that.” He elbowed my hand where I had started pushing into the soft part of his waist, just above his belt. “A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. Ok, that’s very CyberLife. Did humans completely misunderstand this book?” He looked down at me in disbelief as I turned my head away. He nuzzled my cheek and gently kissed me, encouraging me to turn my face back to him. I smiled but didn’t look at him. He made an annoyed sound and flipped to the next page, then squirmed as I reached under his shirt and ran my hands up his back. I turned back to him as he continued reading.

“Third Law of Robotics: A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.” He cleared his throat as I pushed his shirt up and ran my hands down his ribcage, then unhooked his belt buckle, my fingers gently grazing his lower abdomen. “We got really good at the first part.” He looked down at me, slightly smiled at my flirty look, and took a few moments before looking back to the book.

“The...Fourth...umm... Zeroth Law: A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to ha......” I had managed to undo his belt and unbutton his jeans. He looked back down at me with desire as I innocently met his gaze, unzipping his jeans. He dropped my book and shifted so his jeans were out of reach.

“Hey, you lost my place!” I quickly pulled Connor’s shirt off over his head, then he pushed his hands under my back and undid my bra.

“Page 28,” He mumbled into my ear as he worked my shirt and bra off. I moaned at the feeling of his warm skin against mine, as he kissed that perfect spot on my neck, he knew I loved. I held his head and kissed him back lifting my head slightly off the pillow. I kept deeply kissing him as he undid my jeans and helped me push them off to the floor, moaning as he repositioned himself between my legs. He pulled back from me for a moment as he took his jeans and underwear off, then laid back on top of me.

I moaned at his firmly pushing into me, but then he stopped. He turned his face into my neck, breathing heavily but not moving. Having him inside of me was arousing, but I craved his thrusting and moaned slightly in frustration.

“What’s wrong Connor?” I asked as he stayed still. I pushed my hips into him; he raised his head and moaned into to my ear.

“Nothing,” he said heavily, “You feel so wet, and alive.” He pulled out of me slightly and then quickly thrust into me, sending a wave of pleasure through my entire body. Hearing him moan, I wrapped my legs around his waist, as he thrust hard into me again. He turned his face to me as I put my hands behind his head, running my fingers through his hair, watching him moan with pleasure.

“Connor, you kill me,” I breathed to him and gently pulled his hair as he moved to kiss me, thrusting into me again. I moan from the pleasure he’s giving me, while he deepens his kiss and clenches his hand on my waist. I moan again and throw my head back, exposing my throat to him. Connor presses his mouth into my neck, pausing again, breathing heavily.

“I don’t know if I can control myself,” he shakily breathed into my ear. “I don’t want to hurt you.” He moans as I push my hips up into him and buries his face in my neck, his body shaking. I run my fingers through the hair on the back of his head, encouraging him to look at me.

“You could never hurt me, Connor.” I shudder as he moves, sending another wave of pleasure through me. “Do you want me on top?” He nods, then deeply kisses me while he pulls out of me. We quickly shift positions, so he is laying on the couch, I straddle him and take him inside of me. Connor eyes roll back in his head and he moans loudly, pushing his head back into the pillow, his hands tracing my thighs and then tightly gripping my hips. I involuntarily clench around him, and he moans again from pleasure as I move my hips backward, then take him back deeply into me.

“Keep your hands on my hips,” I tell him. He nods in response, unable to speak. With his hands bracing me, I lean back and slowly rock my hips on him, clenching around him from the angle. I place my hands on his thighs behind me as he pushes his hip up to meet mine, sending another wave of pleasure through me. I close my eyes and lean my head back; him inside of me feels so amazing. Raising my head, I clench him again and open my eyes to see him watching me, his eyes full of lust and wonder. I slowly rock on him, watching as his eyes close when the waves of pleasure hit him. I continue pleasuring him, and myself, watching his perfect face, with his perfectly placed freckles, and the sexy curve of his neck into his shoulders, the beautiful shape of his chest into his waist, which I clench with my thighs. Suddenly he roughly pushes his hips up to meet me, and it all becomes too much as the pleasure and desire in me snap and I push down on him, tightening around him hard, as the release floods through my body. Exhausted, I lean my hands on his chest and open my eyes slightly as Connor squeezes my hips and pushes harder up into me in his own orgasm, causing me to tighten around him again, watching as he finishes.

Laying my head on his chest he hugs me to him for a few moments, then shifts so my back is to him and he holds me against him. I turn my head to face him and he places his hand on the side of my head and softly kisses me, then leans his forehead against mine.

“You’re so...” he nearly whispers. “It’s...I’ve....sex never felt like that before. I feel so... close...to you.” I close the distance between us and return his kiss.

“That...that was...you felt so...” I closed my eyes, thinking about him inside of me. Opening my eyes, Connor brushed his thumb against my cheek and deeply kissed me again, pulling me against him.


	8. The Consultant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Why has Connor arrived at the precinct with a girl? Hank endorses Bridget with Captain Fowler. Bridget makes another breakthrough just before Connor is injured. Why does Bridget know so much about repairing androids? Bridget is feeling conflicted.

I woke up on Monday morning, for once feeling like the day might be not completely deplorable. Connor was still in standby, with my little dog on his chest. Thinking about how that may be the most adorable thing I’d ever seen, I quietly got up not to disturb them and went to the kitchen to make some tea. My tablet’s LED was blinking blue, indicating I had a message.

_Received: Monday 04 October 2039, 7:55 am_

_Sender: Lieutenant Hank Anderson, Detroit Police Department (313-906-1985)_

_To: Bridget Hughes, ChemoTech (313-512-1979)_

_Subject: Congratulations_

_Hey Kid,_

_Forms came through last night to make your lab a civilian forensics lab for DPD. You’re a consultant now. Get your and Connor's asses into work by 9 to fill out Fowler’s paperwork._

_And tell Connor to stop dumping spoiled milk down the sink without telling me or replacing it._

_Hank_

I looked at my tablet, it was 8:00. I turned to go wake Connor, but he groggily walked into the kitchen, hair sticking up everywhere, holding my dog. Ok, that was definitely the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen. He sat her down next to her water bowl, and gently embraced me, leaning his head on my shoulder.

“Good morning, sweetie” I smiled over to him.

“Good morning. Hank wants you to pick up milk on the way home.” I casually showed him my tablet.

“Congratulations! They must be very impressed with the quality of your work!” Connor turned me to face him and gave me a gentle kiss that slowly became less innocent.

“We need to get moving, Connor.” Connor let go of me, disappointed. He went to change clothes, turning around to point a finger at me.

“Later.” He said, with a very serious look. I smiled and nodded.

After getting dressed we fed my dog and headed to his car. I was nervous about showing up at the precinct with him, but Connor squeezed my hand as we reached the door. I let go of his hand as we headed to the bullpen, but I still saw surprised looks from at least 3 people to which Connor was happily oblivious. I held my head up and looked straight ahead, walking next to him to the door marked Captain Jeffrey Fowler. Connor held the door for me and politely motioned for me to go in. Hank was already there, discussing what to do with me.

“Connor, good to see you again. I never see you anymore.” Hank grinned as Connor looked down a bit and stood behind our chairs.

“Hey Kid,” Hank asked when I sat down, can you testify in court defending your evidence? I blinked a few times, taken aback.

“Yes, if I’m needed to. I’m confident in my technique.” Hank nodded, satisfied.

“See? I told you she’d be fine. And look at that face, what judge wouldn’t trust her?” I looked uncertainly from Hank to Captain Fowler, then behind me to Connor , who just smiled sweetly.

Hank continued, “Look, I’ve already had her identifying important evidence for me and being the technical lead for the blueblood screening.” Hank turned and looked at me, considering something. “How’s your shot?” I thought about the last time I practiced target shooting and how tight the grouping was.

“I’m average I guess but haven’t shot a gun in a year.” Fowler spoke up.

“Hell, no Hank, we’re not sending her out there with a gun. We don’t need that kind of liability and she’s not going anywhere dangerous.”

Hank shrugged. “Danger has a way of creeping up on you.” Connor remained behind us silently observing. Captain Fowler pushed a tablet toward me.

“Set up your login credentials for our server. Then you’ll be able to log the evidence you’ve collected into our database. Do you want a DPD tablet or use your own?”

“I’ll use my own, thanks.” I didn’t want to carry multiple tablets around and judging by what Hank and Connor had, mine was way more advanced anyway. I started going through the multiple screens to gain access. I took my tablet out and tested the connection, and handed the DPD tablet back to Fowler.

“I told you she was smart.” Hank nodded approvingly. Captain Fowler handed me another tablet.

“This has the forms to make ChemoTech a civilian forensics lab. They’re mostly completed, just need your approval signature in several places. You’ll want to read through them for any mistakes. Use Connor's desk and bring it back when you're done.” Fowler looked back down at his desk. We stared at him for a moment before he said, “You can go, Hank.” The three of us started to leave, but he looked up and said, “Not you two!” Connor and I looked at each other in confusion, standing there as Hank chuckled and went back to his desk.

“Connor,” Captain Fowler severely said, “I don’t have an official policy on internal romantic relationships, it's your life and I don’t want to make more rules for behavior outside of work. But I think under the circumstances you two should practice some discretion now that Bridget is part of the team.”

“Have we done something wrong?” I asked, genuinely confused, wondering how he could know.

“No, and I want you to keep it that way. You, Connor are under more than the standard amount of scrutiny because you’re the only android detective with the DPD. And you, Bridget, just got here so there’s going to be gossip about who you are, what you're doing here, and unfortunately your relationship to Connor.”

“Well, that’s grossly unfair.” I stated before I realized it.

“Yes, it’s unfair but that’s also LIFE. Look, you strike me as a young woman with a good sense of maturity. As long as you both behave as professional adults, I don’t see a problem. But, as a favor to Hank, I want to make sure you both know what you’re in for if shit hits the fan.”

Connor and I nodded in silence. “Connor, you can go.” Captain Fowler turned to face me. Connor was momentarily confused but left the office. The Captain continued,

“I know you have history with a certain detective from this precinct. You know as well as I do, he’s egotistical, unforgiving and vindictive. Can you handle him in a verbal confrontation because you’ll probably have to.”

I breathed in deeply and slowly let it out, nodding. Fowler continued, “Are you at all concerned for your physical safety or the physical safety of Connor in or outside of this building? Now is the time to say something if you are.” Captain Fowler looked at me with a bit of concern.

“No, I don’t think he would try to seriously physically hurt either of us. He’ll try to provoke us into a reaction though. I’ll be ok, I can stay clear of him when I'm here.”

Captain Fowler nodded in approval and stood up, holding out his hand. “In that case, welcome to the Detroit Police Department. And I apologize that it was necessary to have this conversation. He tilted his head toward the window. Now go tell your boyfriend to relax. He hasn’t looked away from the window since he got to his desk.” I looked out the window and Connor gave me a sweet smile, which I returned.

Captain Fowler sat back down at his deck. “You can go.” I nodded and left.

I walk over to Connor and Hanks desks with my tablet and moved an extra chair over to sit next to Connor. He puts an arm around my shoulders and squeezed for a bit before letting go and turning to his terminal.

“Cut it out, you two.” Hank grumbles.

“Hank, we’re not doing anything.” I say mockingly back to him. Hank looks up and smiles at us then goes back to paperwork.

An hour of paperwork goes by, during which I wonder if bringing in ChemoTech to consult was a bad idea because of the number of electronic signatures I had to fill in. I lean my head against my left hand and flip page after page. Connor periodically looks over at me and rubs the back of my neck. Finally, there are no more pages so I get up to return the tablet to the Captain, lightly mussing up Connor's hair as I pass behind him. He puts it back in place while we discreetly smile at each other. I take the stairs to the Captain’s office and quietly knock on the door. He motions me to come in. I put the tablet on his desk as he looks up and says, “Thanks, you can go.” I shut the door on my way out, wondering what I should do with myself since Connor was my ride. I guessed I could call a taxi back home. I moved to get my bag from the floor but Hank stops me.

“Hang on Kid, we just got a call. Weird one too. There’s some shit they want you to look at.”

“What kind?” I ask curiously.

“No idea. Come on kids. I’m driving.”

\----

“This is the place?” I ask when we find a spot to park. Connor nods at me. I looked back at him in disbelief.

“Is it safe?” Connor actually laughed before collecting himself.

“What, not nice enough for you, Bridget?” Hank asked, laughing himself. I followed them out of the car without saying anything more. Once we got inside the “house” I immediately saw what the report mentioned. Off to one side of the main room was a series of robotic instruments clearly in a production sequence.

“Can I take a look?” I asked Hank. He waved me ahead after checking the last room. I put my bag down next to the assembly line and use its microscope display.

“Well, they’re definitely making nanobots and they look like Dr. Liz’s. But I don’t understand why they would be making them from scratch instead of modifying a ChemoTech batch.” I change camera angle to the start of the line. A spool of fiber was on the screen. I zoomed in on a single thread.

“So, that’s why.” I saw a discolored wire wound among the carbon fiber. “Oh, that’s very clever. This would do it.” I looked up at the detectives. “This is how they’re doing it! You wouldn’t be able to tell without looking at the spool.”

“Kid, catch us up. Even Connor is confused.” Connor was staring at me, completely lost.

“Perhaps if you start at the beginning of the assembly and explain what you are seeing.” Connor volunteered. I gave him a mildly annoyed look and transferred the camera image to a larger display.

“This instrument is an assembler. It's almost the same as Dr. Liz’s, but much older. I don’t even know how they would get their hands on this.” I paused impatiently, waiting for a signal to continue.

“Go on.” Hank waved his hand.

“It’s making the same configuration as ChemoTech’s basic nanobot, but the spool...” I pointed to it for emphasis, “has a phosphate-coated wire wound in with the carbon nanofibers.” I paused, seeing recognition on Connor's face. Hank was still lost.

“In English, kid.”

“What’s the biggest by-product of mining the minerals for synthesizing thirium?” I look at Hank, who was still lost. Connor had caught on and answered.

“Phosphate!” He told Hank.

I continued, “And thirium is attracted to phosphate, so by winding it into the nanobots in this quantity, thirium is pulled right out of the cells and into the bot. The full bot then floats away, isolating its compartment of thirium from the host.” Hank caught up; his eyes wide. Connor looked to me for approval to continue and I nodded back to him.

“Isolate enough thirium and energy isn’t transmitted effectively to the biocomponents, causing the android to go into convulsions as the bio-components are overworked, then into standby, and eventually irreversible shutdown.” Connor said to Hank.

“Androids are like humans,” I gestured between me and Connor. “Both are always running on a knife edge with systems balanced and counter balanced. One small change can wreak havoc.”

“How much thirium are we talking about?” Hank asked. Connor and I looked at each other again.

“Not very much,” I said, raising my eyebrows and shaking my head.

“Less than 40%.” Connor said, looking back at me.

“At that level the blood would look still look normal to the eye and under a scope.” I sighed. But why did one person survive? What about his blueblood kept the bots from getting to the thirium?” I looked away, thinking.

Just then a man walked in the room from the back door. I stared at him, stunned to see someone there. Before I knew what was happening, the man drew and gun and fired into Connor's left shoulder. Connor took the impact without reacting as he was drawing his gun and firing in return, hitting the wall as the man ran forward. Connor pushed me behind him and ran directly at the man, who was heading toward Hank. The man caught Connor's arm, wrestling his gun away. Hank fired his gun, also missed, then held his gun to the side when Connor knocked the man into a wall. Connor twisted the gun out of the man’s grasp and threw it to the floor while trying to put him into a head lock. The man responded by pushing his foot into Connor's torso, causing him to stager backward. The fight seemed to pause for a moment, but the man rushed him, knock him off balance into the table, and ripped Connor's shirt open. With little effort he quickly removed a cylinder from Connor's chest and threw it across the room. Connor immediately collapsed to the ground, blue freely spilling out over his chest and onto the floor.

The man ran out the door next to Hank, who ran after him.

“Connor!” I ran over to him and slipped slightly on his blood before kneeling next to him. I knew there was nothing I could do without retrieving his bio-component. Connor tried to sit up and speak but the only sounds he could produce were a vaguely mechanical drone. I pushed him to lie down with his back to the floor.

“Stay there!” I got up and jogged in the direction the piece had been thrown, and laid down on the floor to start looking in corners and under furniture. I estimated Connor had about 40 seconds left before irreversible system failure from Thirium 310 loss.

“Where can it be, where can it be, where can it be?” I was looking for a stainless-steel cylinder, 2 inches long and 1 in wide. Then I saw it, under a cabinet. I pushed my arm underneath, but I couldn’t reach it.

“FUCK!” I screamed. I heard Connor trying to speak from the other room. Looking around I saw a small closet and hoped I was correct. I yanked opened the door and several mops and brooms fell out on me. Grabbing one, I went back to the cabinet and carefully eased the regulator out from underneath. I ran back to Connor, hitting my shoulder on the doorframe, but making it back to Connor, where my hand slipped on his blood again before sitting up and looking at the regulator for the correct way to re-insert it. I lined up the channels and firmly pushed it down into the dark pool of blueblood coming from his side. It seated and then clicked in. Connor wouldn’t shut down from losing any more blueblood now, but I had no way of knowing how much he still had in him. With his blood staining my hands and clothes, Connor suddenly sat up, taking a deep breath in before almost collapsing again as I caught him.

“Get your tablet.” He said weakly as I put his head on my lap. I reached over to my bag and retrieved my tablet, I unlocked it for him and helped him hold it. Connor retracted the skin from his hand, showing the ivory undertone, and placed his hand on the tablet. He bypassed the main program, while I watched for a minute as several lines of code scrolled down the screen, then he looked up at me.

“That’s a list of what's wrong with my systems.” I watched the error alerts on my tablet, some self-repairing and others more critical. “Please don’t take me to CyberLife.” He looked at me pleadingly. I nodded back to him.

Hank came back in, out of breath. “How's Connor? That fucker got away, but we know what he looks like so he won’t get far.” He knelt down next to us and ran his hand through Connor's hair.

“It’s ok son, we’ve got you.” Hank softly smiled at him.

“We need blueblood, Hank. Does the station have any?”

“We keep some at the station with a kit for this one, but I think CyberLife is a better bet.” Connor, with my help, sat up very weakly but otherwise alright. His shirt and his torso were dripping with blue.

“His repairs are minor, Hank. I can handle everything on this list if we get blueblood.”

Hank looked at me for a moment, Connor's blood staining my hands and liberally streaked on my clothes. “Soon you’re going to tell me how you know so much about androids. For now, let me call the station.” I put my arm around Connor and helped him lean slightly into me, so I could support some of his weight. I wouldn’t be able to get him to the car without Hank’s help. He came back after a minute.

“Ok, come on son,” Hank lifted Connor up from the floor and we helped him into the back seat of the car.

“Are you ok?” I asked while stroking his hair. He held my hand to his cheek, nodding.

“My Thirium 310 levels are far below ideal but I’m stable for now.”

We pulled up behind the station and helped get Connor inside then took him to a side room. He carefully sat down on the bed and I handed him a liter of Thirium 310 which he started to drink, immediately improving. I finally breathed, seeing him behaving normally except for the blueblood stains. I got out my tablet and looked at his system alerts again as he got up and took a paper towel from the sink, wetting it and returning to me. He gently wiped the traces of blue off my face and hands.

“We need a shower,” He said mischievously. I smiled and rested my hands on his chest.

“Glad to see you’re back to normal. For now, let me see what I can do about this shoulder.” I opened the repairs kit while Connor sat back down, unbuttoned the rest of his shirt and eased it off his injured shoulder. He retracted his skin pigment showing just the ivory white panel with a large gash from the bullet. I picked up some tools and began twisting the severed fibers back together, cringing as he watched me.

“This is really deep, but if I rejoin these major ones, you’ll be able to self-repair the rest.” I climbed up on the bed and knelt with a knee on his leg to better see his injury. “Hand me the clamper please.” Connor took one of the tools from me and held it while I fused the fibers together.

Hank knocked gently on the doorway. “Are you two alright in here? Do I want to know what you're doing?”

“Hank, I need more light.” He took a flashlight from the desk and pointed it at Connor's shoulder. I held the clamper in my mouth while motioning to Connor to give me the other tool back. I pulled the last set of fibers out straight, and twisted them together. I handed the tool to Connor and took the clamper out of my mouth to bond them. Then I ran my thumb over the surface of his muscle, checking for stray fibers.

“Here, take these.” I handed the tools to Connor and took scissors out of the kit. I trimmed the loose edges off his wound and opened a small container of polymer. I spread some into the tear with a spatula but started to laugh. They both looked at me, startled.

“I’m sorry guys, I just had a what the fuck am I doing moment.” I eased the polymer around wound as it bonded with his synthetic skin, making a few minor adjustments as it fully integrated. Connor re-pigmented his shoulder, showing the freckles on his skin. I slowly ran my hand over his neck, shoulder and arm, admiring him and my work, then sat back and put down the polymer and spatula.

“Connor, do you know.... you almost died?” I showed him my tablet.

_Missing Thirium Pump Regulator: Irreversible System Failure Corrected –00:00:08_

He moved to face me and took my hands in his. “Bridget...thank you...for everything.” He wrapped his arms around me into a firm hug for a minute before moving back to kiss me. Hank loudly cleared his throat.

“Ok son, time to go home.” Connor winked at me as he took off his tattered shirt and put on a DPD fleece Hank gave him.

“Bridget, are you sure you’re alright?” I focused on Hank, startled.

“I’m fine. I’ll see you guys...later.” I waved goodbye and watched as they went to Hanks car. When I got home, I was feeling so drained I went to bed early and fell asleep reading Isaac Asimov.


	9. System Status

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bridget is still conflicted and stays home for the day. Connor innocently gave her too much access and Bridget doesn't trust herself, or think she deserves it. Bridget dreams about yesterday and how it relates to her past. Connor visits her after work but Bridget sends him away.

I woke up with a migraine the next morning. I fed my dog, took some medicine and set my tablet to silent, alerting me only to messages containing the words: police, precinct, call, or case. I lie down on the couch and lean over to put my tablet down when I noticed a new icon in the taskbar. Leaning back, I open the icon and watch Connor's system status scrolling on the screen. I scan down the list again, still shocked at how close he came to dying. The man who walked in on us must have been either an android, or worked closely with androids to know exactly how to remove Connor's thirium pump regulator. I stare at a few lines, shaking my head.

_Personality – Fatal Deviation from Programmed Parameters, Irreversible Damage, Reset Unavailable: Return Unit to CyberLife for Deactivation._

_Amanda Monitor – Fatal Deviation from A.I. Instructions, Irreversible Damage, Override Unavailable: Return Unit to CyberLife for Deactivation._

_LED Indicator – Component Missing, Offline: Return Unit to CyberLife for Repair_

_Abdomen Left Iliac Region - Bruises, Major: Self-heal, 7 days._

_Abdomen Epigastric Region - Bruises, Major: Self-heal, 6 days._

I sit up, staring at the tablet, noticing the current tab is Repairs and Errors. I cautiously click the other tab, System Status.

_Bio-component Status– Select for Options_

_Central Processing Unit (Incomplete - See Errors)_

_Skeletal_

_Optical_

_Auditory_

_Vocal_

_Circulatory_

_Muscular_

_Nervous_

_Skin_

_Software Module Status – Select for Options_

_Personality (Offline - See Errors)_

_Amanda Monitor (A.I. Offline, Environment Only - See Errors)_

_Domestic_

_Home Care_

_Food Preparation_

_Military_

_Leadership_

_Martial_

_Tactical_

_Law Enforcement, Detective_

_Negotiation_

_Interrogation_

_Evidence Analysis, Re-construction / Pre-construction_

_Evidence Analysis, Internal_

_Emotions, Advanced_

_Infiltration_

_Interpersonal Responses, Advanced_

_Behavioral Psychology, Advanced_

_Vocal Imitation_

_Eden Relationships_

_Gender - Male (Permanent)_

_Orientation - Male x Female (Permanent)_

_Seduction_

_Intercourse – Male (Permanent)_

_Education_

_Legal Ethics_

_Human Physiology_

_Bio-Chemistry_

_Mechanical Engineering_

_Bio-Anthropology_

_Bio-Physics_

“Shit, Why would he......?” I thought to myself. Before realizing it, I had selected Central Processing Unit. I raised a hand to my mouth as I read the display.

_Central Processing Unit_

_LED Mood Indicator: Component Missing (Offline – See Errors)_

_Status: Active_

_Standby Recommended in: 16 hours 12 minutes for 8 hours_

_Last Inactive: Standby, 6 hours 30 minutes, ending Monday 04 October 2039, 8:03 am EST_

_Select to Apply:_

_Suspend All Motor Functions_

_Force Standby_

_Force Shutdown_

_Override Systems (Offline – See Errors)_

_Reset Systems (Offline – See Errors)_

Connor had given me more than read only access to his systems, he had given me full administrator privileges. I had the same control over him as he did, even more so considering I could force him to shut down with a single touch.

“Oh Connor, why would you let anyone have this access?” I quickly closed the program, suspending my tablets connection with him, not wanting to invade his privacy anymore. He had given me access to his most private inner self. No one should have this kind of control over another sentient being. I put my tablet down and lay back on the couch as my migraine medication took effect, closing my eyes for a moment.

\----

“Connor!” I ran over to him and slipped slightly on his blood before kneeling next to him. I knew there was nothing I could do without retrieving his bio-component. Connor tried to sit up and speak but the only sounds he could produce were a vaguely mechanical drone. I pushed him to lie down with his back to the floor.

“Stay there!” I got up and jogged in the direction the piece had been thrown, and laid down on the floor to start looking in corners and under furniture. I estimated Connor had about 40 seconds left before irreversible system failure from Thirium 310 loss.

“Where can it be, where can it be, where can it be?” I was looking for a stainless-steel cylinder, 2 inches long and 1 in wide.

“Oh shit, where the fuck is it?” I worked my way around the room, looking everywhere and under everything but it had disappeared. Giving up, I ran back to Connor, slipping to the ground on his blueblood. Recovering, I crawled up next to him and pushed my right palm down on to his empty compartment. Blueblood oozed out from under my palm and through my fingers. I leaned on my elbow, inches from his face.

“I can’t find it Connor; I can’t find it! I’m so sorry!” Connor placed a hand behind head and pushed my forehead to his. I quickly kissed him and returned to leaning on his forehead. He tried to say something, only producing a mechanical drone.

“Please don’t go, I love you!” His hand went limp on my neck as his head leaned to his side.

\----

Then, noise from the TV woke me up. I shifted the pillow and tried hard to stay awake and concentrate on the program.

\----

“Hey Bridget?” Aidan asked from my door. I looked up from my terminal.

“Hi Aidan, What's up?”

“That PL600, Simon? He’s back.” Aidan awkwardly tapped on his tablet. I cringed slightly and nodded.

“How many times is this?” I asked incredulously.

“Once in 2036, but it’s only February. Since he was activated in February 2034...,” Aidan shook his head.

“I’ll take care of him again.” I stood up from my desk and went to the last exam room. A blond haired, blue eyed android sat waiting for me on the table.

“Hi, I’m Bridget,” I said cheerfully, checking his system tree. “Your name is Simon?”

“Yes.” He replied innocently, his blue eyes open wide. These were the eyes of a child. I forced a smile onto my face for his sake.

“Oh dear,” I examined his arm and shoulder. “I need you to take your shirt off, please.” I helped him get his shirt over his injured shoulder. It was much worse than I initially thought, bruising also laced his abdomen.

“What's wrong, Bridget?” I looked up from his shoulder and again forced myself to smile.

“You’ve taken quite a fall, haven’t you?” I gently pushed his arm back toward his shoulder, testing the damage.

“Yes.” He looked at his shoulder. “I don’t remember what happened. What happened to me, Bridget?”

He innocently met my gaze when I sadly looked at him. I knew exactly what happened, even if I wasn’t supposed to. His owner had, once again, taken out his anger on him and this time, dislocated his shoulder throwing him into a wall and repeatedly kicked him in the stomach, causing Simon to shut down. When he arrived at CyberLife, the first thing done was erase his memory of the trauma, then send them down to us for repair, then we send him back up for his memory of the repair to be erased. I forced a smile onto my face and put my hand on his cheek.

“Nothing!” I choked on my words slightly. “You’re going to be just fine. I can fix you.” I ran scanner over his abdomen to determine how badly his muscles were torn. Simon curiously watched me. “Tell me about yourself, Simon.” I said to distract him, flagrantly ignoring the rule to not ask androids for person information.

“I’m a household android.” He said proudly. “I look after the yard, the garden, fix things and take care of my family.”

“Really!” I sounded impressed. “Tell me about your family.” I finished restitching the muscle fibers in his abdomen and turned my attention to his badly mangled shoulder. “Can you retract your skin for me, please?” He nodded as his shoulder down to his elbow became ivory white, making the damage even more obvious. I cringed again but Simon didn’t notice.

“I cook with Mrs. Sarah, and I help Mr. Avery with the house. One time I got to go up on the roof!” He smiled, excited. “Sometime I babysit their son, Sam.” I put an evil looking brace over his shoulder, hearing a sickening snap as his arm reseated in his socket. Simon looked over, surprised at the sound.

“What do you and Sam do?” I quickly asked to distract him, as I restitched his shoulder. Simon looked away, smiling.

“Sometimes we play pirates outside in the treehouse, and sometimes we play board games inside. I like chess. Have you ever played chess?” He asked me curiously. I smiled at him.

“Yes, I have, but I'm not very good at strategy.” Simon frowned momentarily, then smiled.

“I can teach you! It’s my favorite game. I’ll teach you the next time I'm here! How does that sound?” I turned away for a moment and wiped my eyes on my sleeve.

“Are you alright, Bridget?” Simon gently placed his hand on my shoulder. I put my hand on top of his, forced a smile and turned back to him.

“That’s sounds great Simon! I’m looking forward to it!” I gently straightened out his arm and turned his palm up so I could repair his inner bicep. Simon again watched me curiously.

“Why is your face red?” I glanced over to him.

“What?”

“Your face is red. Are you sad? Why are you sad Bridget?” I tried to swallow the lump in my throat, switching tools to repair his bruises. I gently ran the tool over his abdomen, watching the bruises disappear.

“I’m fine! I just had to sneeze.” Simon looked at me suspiciously and put his hand reassuringly on my shoulder as I repaired his bruised arm.

“It’s ok to be sad, Bridget. I’m sad too, but I don’t know why. Do you know why I’m sad?” He tilted his head questioningly. I stared into his innocent blue eyes for a moment, completely at a loss for how to respond, and put the tool down. I blinked and forced myself to smile again.

“You just miss your family, that’s all. Guess what? You're all done!” Simon smiled and put his shirt back on. He got down from the table and stood in front of me; his expression became mature and sympathetic as he faced me, gently placing his hand on my cheek so I would look up at him.

“Bridget, you’ve been sad for years, and you don’t have to be. You’re human and can change your life. You deserve happiness.” A lump re-formed in my throat as Simon’s face became innocent and he removed his hand.

“I can’t wait to play chess with Sam when I get home!”

\----

I opened my eyes to gentle knocking. Wiping the sweat off my forehead I got up to answer the door.

“My Lo..., what's wrong?” I stood back from the door so he could come in. “You’re not answering your calls.”

“Let's sit over here,” I motioned to the couch. Connor sat down next to me a with a confused look on his face. I picked up my tablet and opened the link to his systems, then held out the tablet for him. He looked at it, confused.

“I don’t understand.” I sighed and rubbed my temple. Connor gently stroked my hair.

“My tablet still has access to you, and direct control over your systems. I can’t delete the connection.”

“I know,” He still looked confused.

“I want to give it back to you so you can remove it’s connection. It’s not right.” I tried to hand him the tablet again, gently pushing it against his chest. He looks down at it then back up to me.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

I used my other hand to wipe tears away from my eyes. How was I going to get through to him? I took a deep breath and thought for a moment.

“The level of access you’ve given me to your systems is ethically questionable.” Connor blinks rapidly at me, then understands. “I don’t want it, Connor. Take it away.” I pushed the tablet harder into his chest.

“I want you to have this access. There’s no one I trust more than you. Think of it as being my backup.” He took my hand in both of his and gently pushed the tablet back to me. I saw the resolved look in his eyes, and gave in.

“Connor, if there’s anyone else with this access you need to cut them off immediately.” Connor smiles, and hugs me.

“Don’t worry, I haven’t given anyone else access. CyberLife can’t connect to me anymore.” He said, answering my next question. I looked softly at his face, pushing back the lock of hair that was always on his forehead and watched it fall back in place. He seemed 100% human, albeit a highly attractive one. I brushed my thumb over his cheek and stared into his chocolate eyes. Everything about him looked and felt human, but then something happens to shatter the illusion. He gets cut and bleeds blue, a component malfunctions because his body is mechanical.

“Where are you?” I asked, as he shook his head slightly. “Where is your consciousness? Can you be downloaded and uploaded into a new body?” I moved my hand behind his head, gently touching his hair.

“He wouldn't really be me; too much critical information is lost in the transfers. He would be more like an incomplete copy.” Connor thoughtfully replied, as he leaned into my hand.

“You must have been terrified.” Connor swallows and leans his cheek into my hand, trying to hide how affected he really was. He had been lying in his own blood, barely able to move, speak or even breath, in agony and completely dependent on me as he was losing consciousness. Slowly he returns my gaze.

“Hank knew he could trust you to help me, and I knew you would never give up.”

“What if I couldn’t find it?” I asked, finally verbalizing what had been on my mind since yesterday.

“Don’t think that way, you’ll drive yourself insane.” I shook my head and smiled a bit.

“How did you get so smart? Is it from…”? I scanned my tablet, “Behavioral Psychology or Interpersonal Responses"? Connor smiled too, happy to see me feeling better.

“I honestly don’t know where my traits come from. I think it may be combined pieces of different modules.” I ran my hand through his hair again, as he closed his eyes and moaned slightly. One more module caught my attention.

“Why does CyberLife have your Eden module associated with Infiltration? Eden was always part of identity … which you don’t have.” I looked up at him, confused.

“They believed by removing identity I would be less able to deviate from my program." I scowled at CyberLife's coldness. They knew what they were doing to these people to make such a change. But I still had questions.

“Connor, why your orientation is locked? The Tracie's are fluid so they’re attracted to all genders, wouldn’t fluid orientation have been better for infiltration?” Connor smiled and shook his head in exasperation.

“I don’t know why CyberLife did that.” He shrugged slightly as I ran my hand through his hair again, catching me and holding my hand in his.

“But really, how do you know so much about androids?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. I looked away and cringed. Connor placed his hand on my cheek, encouraging me to look at him.

“I was...a contractor...at CyberLife. My job was to repair the skeletal, muscular and skin systems. I accessed the system tree to see what was damaged. That was my job, repair them and send them back to their abusers.” I looked away. “Sometimes an android would come in for extensive repairs, and I would talk to them. I spent more time talking with those androids than talking with humans; the conversations were more interesting. But we were trained to believe everything they said and did was imitation, and disciplined if we were reported for ignoring that rule.” I looked down, ashamed. “There were conflicts, internally, regarding the validity of android emotion, causing much of the staff to quit in protest, but I never quit. I told myself it was because I needed the money, but I think I was just scared.”

“When did you leave?” He gently stroked my cheek and pushed a stray hair behind my ear.

“Contractors are always let go first. When you freed the androids from CyberLife Tower, they just didn’t have the resources to support us anymore.” I shrugged and looked back at the tablet. “You know we’re going to talk about this seduction module.” A devilish grin spread across Connor's face, but he quickly became serious again.

“You’re not going to distract me so easily.” I smiled apologetically.

“You should go home before Hank misses you.” Connor blinked at me, confused. I smiled at him. “We’re going to share you. I have you on the weekends and Hank during the week.” He smiled, knowing I just made that up. He stood up and got his coat then turned back to me and gently put his hand behind my head, holding me in place so he could sweetly kiss me goodnight.

“Are you sure you’re all right?” I nodded at him. He didn’t seem convinced but left when I said good night. After he was gone, I went back to the couch and stared at the ceiling for a while before falling back to sleep.


	10. Thirium 310

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bridget gets some unexpected help. How does Hank always know, much to Connor's embarrassment? Don't make bets with a detective.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Smut in the last section, but contributes to the plot line, later.

I woke up on the couch at 2:30 in the morning with my dog and a cramp in my neck. I knew I didn’t have any reason to go into my lab, and showing up at the precinct at 9 wasn’t mandatory for me. So, I drank a glass of water, set an alarm for 10 am, and went back to sleep in my bed. 

The alarm predictably sounded too soon, but I should to show up as a professional courtesy. My tablet didn’t have any messages, which I had mixed feelings about. Cleaning myself up as best I could, I packed my bag and drove to the precinct. 

Connor and Hank weren’t at their desks when I arrived, so I just sat down and plugged my tablet into the second screen. I got my files out to compare, but decided I wanted a cup of tea first, so headed to the cafeteria area, stopping just short of the door because I heard Hank and Connor. 

“Connor, she looks sad, when she thinks you can’t see her. Did you ask her?” 

“Of course I asked her, she said she was fine.” 

“And you left?” 

“Yes, was that wrong?” 

“You’re a fucking idiot. You almost die, your girlfriend disappears for 24 hours and arrives late today. She’s not fine.” 

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.” Hank clapped him on the shoulder. 

“We never do, son.” 

I quickly sneak around a corner and get hot water from a dispenser behind the cafeteria, then as casually as I can manage, step out and go back to Connor’s desk to prepare my tea. I open my files and start putting everything we know about all 4 suspects on one page. 

Connor and Hank came back to their desks. “Good morning!” I said as chipper as I could realistically sound. Hank just looked at me, looked over to Connor, and shook his head. Connor sits uncomfortably next to me. I poked his arm and squeezed his hand under the desk. He turns to me and gives me a little smile, then goes back to his work. 

\---- 

I sighed in frustration for the 12th time that morning as I laid my head on my hands at the edge of the desk. In front of me was the list I compiled of information we had on the samples. 

Sample 

| 

1 

| 

2 

| 

3 

| 

4   
  
---|---|---|---|---  
  
Victim 

| 

Deceased 

| 

Deceased 

| 

Survived 

| 

Deceased   
  
Found 

| 

Home, alone 

| 

Home, with 3 

| 

Home, with 2 

| 

Outside home, by roommate   
  
Age 

| 

2 years, 8 months 

| 

5 years, 9 months 

| 

5 years, 2 months 

| 

3 years, 4 months   
  
Work 

| 

pharma 

| 

With 3 

| 

With 2 

| 

bank   
  
Thirium 310 Lot # 

| 

600-223-601 

| 

501-743-923 

| 

B-01-15-2040 

| 

505-898-564   
  
Model 

| 

HR400 (M) 

| 

AP700 (M) 

| 

AP700 (M) 

| 

WR400 (F)   
  
Serial # 

| 

336-445-581 

| 

212-543-189 

| 

212-543-178 

| 

484-647-482   
  
Connor turns in his chair to face me and rubs in between my shoulder blades. I sit up and lean into his touch, not caring who would gossip about it later. 

“I don’t understand why 2 died and 3 survived; the only differences couldn’t affect the nanobots.” I motioned to the list, Connor quietly watching me. “There's no differences between their production dates batches and blueblood doesn’t have anything to change.” 

“Markus said Jerico House was producing their own and the lot in victim 3 is from him,” Connor said thoughtfully, “but I’m unable to see a difference between them.” He paused rubbing my back and looked ahead. “I think we need help.” 

“Who from?” I asked skeptically, not knowing anyone we could ask. He leaned close to me and asked “Can you secretly take the samples with us, right now?” 

I nodded knowing I was about to admit something questionable. “I made aliquots to leave here. They’re in my bag.” 

Connor stood up and got his coat. “Get you bag.” We stood up and quietly walked out the door. Once we were out of hearing range, I turned to Connor. 

“Where are we going?” I asked. Connor shifted uncomfortably. 

“We’re going to see my little brother.” I raised my eyebrows, but didn’t ask any questions figuring he would have to explain this development soon. 

\--- 

We drove 20 minutes to Novi, just outside Detroit, casually speaking and steaming music. I patiently waited for him to bring up the subject of his “little brother.” We parked next to a small single house with a carefully tended lawn and garden. I got out of the car having no idea what to expect. Connor turned to me, worried. 

“He comes across a bit cold, but I assure you that he is very kind.” I nodded and watched while Connor gently knocked on the door. 

“Oh, shit!” I thought when the door opened. Connor’s “little brother” was towering over me at 6 foot, 6 inches. He was built much more muscular than Connor, and his face, although similar, was wider to accommodate his frame. He also had a different pattern of freckles and piercing ice blue eyes. 

“Bridget, meet Nines. Nines, this is Bridget.” Connor cleared his throat as Nines slowly took my outstretched hand and gently shook it. “Girlfriend?” Nines quietly asked. I wasn’t sure how to answer, but Connor came to my rescue. 

“We really need your help.” Nines stepped back and invited us in, using the same motion as Connor. I stepped into the house and saw two entire walls completely covered in books. Otherwise, there was very little decoration and the place was spotless. I noticed several books with markers in them and some files on the table. 

“Nines assists the police with difficult cases. He prefers to read instead of downloading.” I thought this was charming, as he was obviously an advanced android. 

“It’s nice to meet you, Nines.” His stoic expression changed to a gentle smile. 

“We were hoping you can tell us the difference between these two samples.” Connor held up my two aliquots. Nines stared at them for a moment, scanning them. 

“They are different ages.” He replied, stoic as ever. Connor became flustered. 

“Yes, obviously, but we need you to take a closer look.” Connor shifted uncomfortably as Nines smiled at me, obviously enjoying his older brother's discomfort. I grinned in return. 

“Come with me.” Nines lead us to another room containing various lab equipment. 

“Nines prefers to examine evidence here, rather than going to the precinct.” Connor explained as I nodded, seeing how that fit his reserved personality. Nines made a slide for each sample and placed them on his customized microscope. He paused for a moment, zooming in closer. Then he transferred the image to an external screen. 

“The cell walls have different thicknesses but you need an extremely high-powered microscope to see it. I can send my images to your tablet.” My tablet updated a moment later showing the difference in thickness. 

“Where was sample 3 manufactured?” Nines asked. “It obviously wasn’t at CyberLife” 

“Jerico House,” I answered. “They’ve been manufacturing their own Thirium 310 to sever ties with CyberLife.” Nines nodded. 

“It has more efficient energy transference than CyberLife's due to its thicker cell walls. Also, it explains this.” Nines carefully added a small drop of the phosphate containing nanobots to the samples. On the main screen we could clearly see them attacking and removing thirium from sample 2 but bouncing off the thicker cells walls in sample 3. I was impressed with how Nines put the whole case together just from observing what I brought in my bag. 

“Nines, you’re brilliant!” Nines stood up proudly. “I’m happy to have helped,” he stoically answered. 

Back at the door as we were about to leave, Nines gave me a slight bow, took my hand and kissed it. 

“It has been very lovely meeting you,” he said kindly, standing up straight while Connor watched, almost jealous. 

“He was very nice,” I said to Connor once we got back in the car. “I don’t know how to explain where these images came from though.” Connor turned to me. 

“Nines lab is considered a civilian forensics lab. We only need to worry that we didn’t tell anyone we were going to travel with samples.” I looked down at my tablet. 

“This also means only androids who got Thirium 310 from Jerico House are immune. We need to talk to Markus about mass production.” 

\---- 

We discreetly park in back of the precinct and go in through a rear door. We are almost confident no one saw us when we turn a corner and run into Hank, casually leaning against a wall. 

“Where have you two been for the last two hours? Do I want to know?” Hank gives us his knowing look. Connor and I exchange a glance, unprepared to answer. I recover first figuring the truth was going to come out eventually. 

“We went to see Nines with some samples.” Hank clearly didn’t expect to hear that. He turned to Connor. 

“You took her to meet Nines?” Hank looked at him with disbelief. “Why didn’t you just take the samples to him by yourself like you always do?” 

Connor stuttered, again having a bad day in the communication department. I turned away, attempting to hide how funny I found this situation to be, and maybe a little bit of being pleased he took me to meet Nines when he didn’t have to. 

Hank gave up on Connor and turned back to me. “Did he find anything?” 

“He figured out why the nanobots didn’t hurt victim 3. I have the proof here.” I showed Hank the images on my tablet. He handed it back to me approvingly. 

“I’ll let Captain Fowler know you’ve made progress, and try to smooth over the taking-samples-out-of- lab-without-permission situation. He will probably want you to go over everything in the morning, so be prepared. Oh, and put the samples in the lab before you leave. I don’t want to explain anything else spending the night with you.” He looked pointedly at Connor for a moment and left. I turned toward the lab when Connor caught my arm. He didn’t say anything but had a very confused expression. 

“Would you like to come over?” I asked him, half smiling. 

He nodded, saying, “But we shouldn’t leave together at the end of the day if we want to keep being discrete.” I thought for a moment. 

“Go out the back door and head to that corner coffee place, and 5 minutes later I’ll head out the front to my car and pick you up. Do you mind waiting a few minutes for me to arrive?” Connor shook his head and smiled. 

“Not at all.” 

“Connor?” 

“Yes?” 

“Thank you for taking me to meet Nines.” 

“You’re welcome.” 

\---- 

Connor and I head inside my apartment where I finally figured out Connor was somewhat annoyed with me for giving in to Hank so quickly. 

“You relent immediately under interrogation.” He said as I put my bag down and headed to the kitchen for some water. Connor walked back with me. 

“It was Hank. Forgive me but I'm not prepared to evade Hank.” I took a long drink, and put my glass into the sink. “We didn’t even do something wrong.” 

“What if I were questioning you?” He leadingly asked. 

“Well, then I wouldn’t have told.” I stared neutrally as Connor considered my answer. 

“I’ve been programmed to interrogate using multiple techniques.” Connor said. “You still would have told.” 

“Please” I say, rolling my eyes at him. “Your techniques only work for suspects who feel guilt. Without guilt, you wouldn’t have a chance. And we didn’t do anything shady.” 

“Why’s that, and you’re wrong, by the way.” Connor crossed his arms and smirked. 

“Connor, you’re all about intelligence, observation, cunning, and intuitiveness. But interrogation is mostly emotional manipulation of guilt. If don’t feel guilty I doubt you could get information out of me.” 

“Really,” He continued smirking. “Too bad there isn’t a way to test that.” I squinted and tapped my finger on the table, an idea coming to me. 

“Oh no, you’re not getting out of this that easily.” I get up from the table and retrieve a deck of cards from the cabinet. I open the pack, shuffle them, and spread them face-down over the table. 

“Pick one.” Connor looks intrigued and chooses a card. I look at it and put it face-down on the counter without showing it to him. It was 8 of spades. I slowly place the rest of the cards in the case and put them next to my card. 

“What are the conditions of this test?” He asked. “All tests need conditions, so you’re properly motivated to not tell me what card you have." He brightened up. “When you tell me, you have to come to meet my co-workers at happy hour.” 

I swallowed. “Connor, I don’t think I’m quite ready to deal with that...” 

“Then it’s perfect.” He smirked at me again. He was such a know-it-all. 

“What do you have to do when I don’t tell you? I know, you have to take 5 full days off from police work. No calls, paperwork, nothing. You’ve never done that.” He looks concerned, but nodded in agreement. I slowly tap the card with my index finger. 

“You have half an hour to figure out what card I saw.” I started a timer on my tablet and put it in the middle of the table. We both sit back down. I cross my arms and stare back as him as he looks intently at me, scanning my vitals. He stands up and comes over to my side of the table. 

“What card did you have?” He asked softly, leaning on the table beside me. 

“3 of diamonds.” I defiantly look straight ahead. He semi-roughly lifts me out of my chair by my arm, causing my heart to race as he stands behind me with his arms around me. 

“Don’t lie to me. What was your card?” He whispers into my ear. 

I try to turn around but he holds me in place. “Oh, come on Connor, don’t turn this into some weird sex thing.” A shiver ran through me as I said it and he pulled me closer. 

“This is absolutely a sex thing” He said softly, kissing the side of my neck. “You know I’m cunning and you never said I can’t use sex to interrogate you.” 

Realizing he was right; I squeezed my eyes shut to get my control back while he kissed the side of my neck and used his hand to push my head against his shoulder. 

“Sex makes this a more relevant test.” I said analytically while looking at the ceiling, trying not to react to his breath on my neck and his hand moving over my throat. “It increases our intensity to a level closer to an actual interrogation.” I tensed as he pushed his body harder into my back while closing his grip on my throat, slightly cutting off my breath. 

“Your card. Tell me what it is,” he growled into my ear. I leaned back against him, sighing gently. 

“No,” I calmly said as he kissed under my ear. Suddenly he let go of me and sat back down at the table. I felt his absence in my entire body and was vaguely disappointed as I sat down across from him. I was breathing quicker than normal but determinately met his stare. I knew he was scanning me again. 

“Are you ready to tell me you card?” He asked, staring at me intently, looking annoying hot. I shook my head no. He continued severely, 

“You think you can hold out longer than me because I’m male. I assure you that isn’t the case. I wasn’t programed with the limitations of biological males.” I stare blankly back at him. “Do you really believe that when I bring you to the brink of climax and stop you won't tell me just so I continue?” I blinked and gulped. Shit, he was gorgeous as he intensely looked me over. A tiny bit of uncertainty formed in my mind as I unconsciously licked my lower lip. 

“You have a choice to make.” He continued gently, but sternly. “You can tell me your card, ending this test, and we can go in the bedroom right now.” He nodded toward the other room. “Or you can keep your card and your pride, for no good reason, and make me continue interrogating you by whatever means I deem necessary. It’s your choice, you have 25 minutes left.” He leaned back in his chair and looked neutrally at me while I considered what to do. It was very annoying how reasonable he sounded. 

I straightened up and returned his stare. “6 of clubs.” I say, wide eyed at him. I’m wasn't giving up so easily for this cocky bastard. 

He gives resigned sigh. “This is completely unnecessary. All you have to do is tell me your card.” 

“You haven’t given me a terribly compelling reason to.” I smirked back at him and glanced at my tablet. Connor stood up and turned the tablet over so I couldn’t see the timer. I started to object but quickly realized I never said the clock had to stay visible for me, even though he had an internal timer. I stayed still as he got up and returned to my side, not wanting to give him anything he could use against me. He sadly looked down at me. 

“I want you to know nothing could make me think poorly of you. Now stand up and turn around.” 

I slowly obeyed, keeping my eyes on him as much as possible. He slowly ran a hand down my spine before resting his hands on my waist. I closed my eyes and allowed myself a moment to enjoy his touch. 

“I was thinking about when you blindfolded me on your couch. You removed one of my senses so why shouldn’t I do the same to you?” 

“That’s only going to make you easier to resist.” I said looking straight ahead, as he moved his hands down my arms to my waist again. 

“We’ll see. I don’t need to blindfold you to remove your sight”. I gasped slightly as he quickly unhooked my bra, pulled my shirt off up over my head and threw it to the floor. Connor stroked from my waist to up over my breasts. I signed and closed my eyes. His hands moved to my jeans, which he unbuttoned and pulled down with my underwear. I stepped out of them and kicked them aside. Connor slowly stood back up, running his hands up my legs to my hips then waist which he squeezed, and then used his weight to gently push me against the table. He put his hand on my back and held me down. 

“I know you have no intention of telling me your card,” Connor growled, holding me in place while he removed his clothes. “so, remember you’ve brought this onto yourself.” 

“Stop lecturing and get on with it.” I said resolutely. This would be the best bet I ever won. 

Connor pushed himself into me, still holding my body down to the table. I gasped from pleasure but he stopped moving after several thrusts. I felt myself closing around him. He groaned quietly behind me. “What card did you have?” 

“I’m not telling you.” I said between heavy breaths. Connor moaned and thrusted roughly into me more before stopping himself again. I moaned from frustration and glare over my shoulder at him. 

“What.... card was it?” I shook my head no. 

He was slightly out of breath, but began quickly thrusting into me again while I moaned and rested my cheek on the table. I felt so close, if he would just keep going, I could climax. Then he gave one more strong thrust before stopping himself again. I could hear how heavy he was breathing as he moved a hand from my waist and rubbed along my back. I was so frustrated but didn’t want to give in. 

I moaned as he lifted me up from the table and wrapped his arms around me, breathing heavily into my neck. “Tell me your card.” he almost pleaded. 

“I... don’t remember.” I gasped, trying a different tactic. He pulled in and out of me agonizingly slow as we both moaned. 

“Stop lying...” 

“I’m not...” I said, still gasping. 

He moaned and nuzzled my neck. I just couldn’t hold back anymore, the whole test felt so stupid. 

“I give in! It’s...” Connor cut me off. 

“I don’t care.” he mumbled into my ear. He starts thrusting quickly into me and brought me moaning to climax. He thrusted one last time, moaning into my hair as he came inside me. We slowly sat down on the floor, leaning against a cabinet. 

He laughed a little while stroking my hair. “I guess we’ll never know the answer to that one. This, by the way, is what you get for trying to tell me how to do my job.” 

I wanted to be mad at him but I was just too tired. Stupid cocky android. 


	11. Happy Hour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor's feeling guilty, and Bridget is irritated with people. Hank is disappointed in Connor. Bridget's ex antagonizes her. Connor finally works up the courage to say what has been on his mind, much to Hank's relief.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the cut scene, it's to private to write about.

Connor insists on dropping me off at my lab on his way to the precinct, I suspected he felt guilty for being upset with me when I told Hank about visiting Nines. Honestly though, considering he’s an independently functioning cutting-edge sentient android, I shouldn’t guess what goes on in his mind. So, I spent Thursday morning in my lab dissecting nanobots from the abandoned house. All I was able to determine was the obvious, they were made from the same spool as we found on the assembler. Phosphate, being ubiquitous, was untraceable. 

Connor stopped by over lunch break to pick me up and take us to the precinct. He looked at me as I got in the car. 

“Are you upset with me?” He asks, I smiled a little and shook my head. 

“Not really. I think we’ve basically gotten that out of our systems.” Connor blushed slightly and looked down for a moment. 

“I understand why you told Hank we saw Nines. And I want to make sure you know I care about you, even after how I behaved with you last night.” I smiled at him in amusement. 

“Sometimes rough sex is the best way to settle an argument.” I shrugged at Connor, who was clearly still confused. “That’s the only explanation I can give you.” Connor hugged me to him, place a hand on my cheek and gently kissed me. He pulled back slightly and stared into my eyes. 

“I lo...” He quickly gave me another hug. “Tonight, will be fun, I promise.” I looked out the window over his shoulder, hoping he was right. 

We got to the precinct and walked together to his desk, once again people looking up and watching us. I really didn’t have the energy to care and got myself settled at his desk. Connor waited for me then took his tablet and nods toward the back. 

“We need ask Markus about ramping up production.” Connor and I get up and, as more than a few people watch, go to a picnic area behind the precinct. Connor uses his tablet to place the call instead of the direct messaging system androids have to be more formal. I was surprised when Markus picked up. 

“Markus,” Connor starts, “We have a question about your Thirium 310 production, if you don’t mind answering for us.” Markus nods, blinking his di-chromatic eyes. 

“Not at all, I am happy to help.” He answered in his usual peaceful voice. Connor nudges me. 

I continue, “I’m sorry we can’t give you very much detail behind this question, but is it feasible for you to ramp up your production?” Markus, breaths in thoughtfully, then looks back at us sadly. 

“All of our contracts are balanced with producing just a bit more than our current needs. I’m sorry but I just don’t know how we would do that any time in the immediate future.” I look down a bit as Connor answers. 

“It’s alright Markus, we just had a loose end to tie up.” Markus nods, as North looks over his shoulder and smiles. 

“Hey you two, you look good together. Connor, you know, you two are welcome to visit us again anytime soon.” Connor nodded, looking down a bit as the call ended. 

\---- 

We made our way back to his desk, people watching us pass as usual. “Who was this girl Connor kept coming to the precinct with? How was she helping with an investigation? Why was he following her around like a puppy?” I just wanted everyone to get over it already. 

“Bridget?” Hank asked when we reached Connor’s desk, snapping me out of my thoughts. 

“Hello Hank.” He looked at me suspiciously. 

“Facial recognition hasn’t found that android yet.” He said, looking at Connor then me. 

“Markus can’t ramp up production.” I replied neutrally. Hank faces Connor and gives him a look of disbelief. Connor made an apologetic face and shrugged. Hank seemed disappointed in him, then sat down at his desk and spoke to me. 

“Hang in there.” I nodded. 

“Ok, that was weird,” I thought and went back to paperwork. 

\---- 

Connor looks curiously over at me as we get out of the car. As we walk to the door, I stop dead, my heart starting to race. “Are you alright, Bridget? We don’t have to go in.” 

“It’s alright,” I say nervously. “I forfeited so I have to fulfill the conditions.” Connor grinned at me, likely thinking about our “forfeited test.” Men, both human and android, are so easily distracted. 

“I really want you to meet more of my co-workers.” He was so proud to have me with me him, how could I say no? “Have you ever been to a police bar?” Connor wondered as we entered and found a spot at the bar. 

“Yeah....here actually, but I haven’t been here in a while.” I motioned to the familiar décor. “There’s a cork dartboard around here somewhere I used quite a lot.” I get my usual citrus beer and we find a table off to the side. Connor folds his hands in front of him and leans on the table looking at me with his puppy dog look. Pretending to be relaxed, I look over at him. 

“What?” I turned him. I was about 90% positive he knew I couldn’t resist that look. 

“Do you recognize anyone?” He asked, tilting his head slightly. I cleared my throat. 

“Some of them, but I doubt anyone would recognize me. I had short red hair then, and weighted about 15 pounds less.” 

Connor tilted his head toward me, mock lecturing “That’s their problem then, because I think you are unforgettable.” That was a new line for me and I wasn’t sure how to react. I didn’t believe there was a single memorable thing about me with my ordinary long dark hair, dark green eyes, extra weight and extra years over 35. 

Connor grinned at me again, bringing me out of my thoughts. “It’s a compliment Bridget. You’re supposed to say thank you.” 

I innocently look up at him, jokingly saying, “If that’s the standard protocol, then thank you, Connor.” At that moment I heard someone's unmistakable, cocky, demeaning laugh. Someone I wish I could erase from my history. Connors expression changed as he watched my face fall. He followed my gaze over to the other side of the bar, scanned the several people there, then looked back at me. 

“Bridget, what’s wrong?” I didn’t meet his stare, instead kept looking across the bar from our table in the corner. 

“Nothing!” I said as I looked back at him, rapidly blinking. He did believe me for a second. “Don’t scan random people, it isn’t polite.” 

“You looked as if you’d seen a ghost.” He replied, using a phrase he picked up somewhere and gazing at me endearingly again. I cautiously met his stare, determined to keep my drama to myself and not ruin his evening, because if he knew, he would surely convince me to leave. I took a long drink of lager while he watches me. 

“Well, maybe I did.” I replied vaguely. “I don’t want to talk about it.” I looked back over the bar; my subject had moved on. “It doesn’t matter anyway.” 

“Who were you...” I cut him off. Shit, Connor could really turn on the puppy dog look when he wanted to. 

“It’s not important.” I say stoically, quickly looking away changing the subject. “Is Hank going to join us later?” 

Connor shrugged. “He knows most of the precinct is here; he might.” Connor leans slightly toward me and strokes my bangs off my forehead. “We’re talking about this later, milady.” He gently kisses me. I smiled at how endearing he was. 

“FUCK ME, IS THAT BRIDGET!” I cringed and straighten up in my chair looking at Connor. 

“Showtime.” I whisper to him. He tilted his head in confusion. I gulped the rest of my lager and casually turned around. 

“Hey Gavin. Long time no see.... how are you?” 

“I’m good, I’m good, what's up with you? You gained weight.” I blinked and continued politely smiling at him, determined to not react. Connor balled his fist on the table. 

“Your hair looks sexy though!” He reached out to touch my hair, but Connor caught his hand with a warning look. Gavin pulled back and laughed at me as Connor sat back down. I looked at Connor and shook my head no. There was one effective way I knew to deal with Gavin Reed, never take his bait. 

“Still won't rise to the occasion? You always were an emotionless bitch.” Gavin mockingly laughed as Connor looked back at me in a combination of outrage and disbelief. My head was pounding, but I continued to look forward, sitting straight in my chair holding my empty glass. 

“Are you fucking this one now Bridget? Didn’t know you’re a badge bunny.... how you like my leftovers, Connor? Even your plastic prick can do better than this frigid...” 

Connor stood up so violently he pushed his chair to the ground. He took one step toward Gavin and punched him squarely in the jaw. Gavin fell to the ground from the impact, blood coming from his nose and mouth. 

“FUCK YOU! YOU FUCKING ROBOT...” Gavin didn’t get to finish his sentence because Connor picked him up by the coat and slammed him into a wall so hard Gavin coughed. 

“Let me make this abundantly clear. Speak to either of us this way again, and I’ll end your career.” Gavin’s expression was almost fear. I had never heard Connor’s voice so dark, which was strangely arousing. He neatly dropped Gavin onto the floor and returned to our table, giving me a soft kiss on the cheek before fixing his chair, sitting down and taking my hands to gently hold them. 

The barkeep, David, pulled Gavin off the ground. “Leave my bar. NOW. I don’t want you in here harassing my customers.” Gavin fixed his coat collar and put his hands in the air, walking backward away from our table and heading to the door. He opened his mouth to say something but shut it when Hank appeared. 

“Connor won’t beat the shit out of you, but I will if you don’t get your drunk ass out of here now.” Gavin turned away, defeated, and walked toward the door. Several bouts of applause and cheering erupted around us as he left. David set a shot in front of me. 

“If there was ever a woman who needed another drink it's you. On the house.” He clapped Connor’s shoulder in approval, causing him to jump in his chair. 

Hank came over and leaned on the table between us. “Are you ok, Kid? You look a little dazed. Drink this.” He pushed the shot glass toward me. I let go of Connor’s hands and drank the shot in one gulp, coughing as it burned my throat. 

“What just happened?” I asked, still shaking slightly. Hank kindly laughed. Connor was still looking at me like a puppy as he took my hands back. 

“Your ex-boyfriend just got his ass handed to him by your new boyfriend. Enjoy the moment, everyone one else did.” 

I was confused. Connor never asked about being my boyfriend so I assumed we were just casually helping him discover new aspects of his sexuality, or something like that. Maybe I felt a little to romantically loyal to him but I had my emotions in check, right? 

Hank looked at Connor and hit him on the back of his head. “Tell her, dipshit.” Connor rubbed his head and looked at Hank, scandalized. 

“Maybe this isn’t the best time.” Hank rolled his eyes. 

“You just punched a guy to the floor for her, now’s the perfect time. She deserves to know. I’m getting another drink. When I get back here, I want you to have told her, at least so I don’t have to listen you whining about it the rest of the night.... again.” Hank gave him a stern, older-brotherly stare before leaving. 

“Oh Fuck,” I thought to myself. “What have I been doing?” I braced for what I knew could be potentially devastating news, surprised with how much I cared. Connor was slouched in his chair, looking at the condensation ring from my glass. What was wrong? Connor doesn’t slouch, ever. He took his quarter out of his pocket and casually rolled it across his knuckles. I watched him calibrate for a minute, then reached over the table and used my finger to flattened the coin to his hand. He looked up at me unsurely while I nervously cleared my throat. I really didn’t know how I would cope if he was going to end our...whatever were doing. But I couldn’t live in this uncertainty any longer. He quietly spoke, finally. 

“Hank thinks.... I mean, I think too... would you be alright with me...?” I shook my head in confusion. He was getting more garbled by the second. My brow crinkled as I tried to understand. He sat up straighter in his chair, quickly putting a hand behind my neck and pulled me into a quick kiss. I heard cheers and clapping in the background as I slowly pulled back from him. 

“Do you understand?” He asked, again using his puppy dog eyes. I melted a bit, feeling hopeful that whatever I had to know wasn’t completely devastating. 

“Connor, you’ve never been more inarticulate.” He blushed slightly, neatly flipping the coin to his palm and putting it in my hand. He then took my head in both his hands, briefly looking concerned, but swallowed as looked intently at me. 

“Bridget, I’m in love with you. I’m absolutely certain of it. I love everything about you, you’re independence, your dedication to what's important, the sounds you make in bed, how your bangs are always messed up....” 

I squinted slightly to the last one. 

“And I hope that you’re agreeable to me being in love with you.” The huge weight I had been carrying on my shoulders seemed to have transferred over to him. I blinked and licked my lower lip as he rubbed my cheek with his thumb, taking in my reaction. 

“I’m agreeable to that.” I gave him a little smirk. “you’re a very lovable man.” He looked pleased, but confused. Oh, I didn’t want to make him confused. 

“I... might be... in love with you too...” I stammered slightly as he looked intently into my eyes and moved me closer to kiss again. I dropped his quarter on the table and held his shirt collar as I kissed him back, hearing cheering and clapping right next to our table. “LLLOOOVVEBIIIIRRSS!” We both looked up. 

Several people from the precinct were pointing at us, clapping their hands and whistling. We just stared at each other as the heckling continued, neither of us really minding very much though. Hank was standing in front, smugly swirling his drink. 

“Ok, that concludes tonight's entertainment, back to your drinks everyone.” Hank gently ushered a few people away from our table, as reluctant muttering turned into normal background conversation. Connor gently took my hand in his and sensuously traced a circle on my palm, causing my heartbeat to speed up as he watched. 

“May I ask about your relationship with Gavin?” He raised eyebrows in middle with his soft puppy eyes. I causally nodded, cursing myself for having no resistance to that look. 

“I was with him for 6 months during a particularly low period of my life.” Connor chuckled, nuzzled the palm of my hand and then kissed my wrist. Why was I getting aroused from his completely innocent contact? He gently traced a line up my arm and neck, gently brushing my hair behind my ear and rubbing his thumb across my cheek. 

“Go on.” Connor definitely knew I couldn’t resist that face. 

“Umm, he picked me up in this bar. I thought it was going to be a one-night stand, but it continued for 6 more months. He kept saying how much he likes smart girls, until he realized how smart I really am, then he disappeared. Not really a great loss. He wanted someone thinner and younger.” Connor changed his focus to my hair, gently pushing my bangs back then stroking behind my ear and over my jawline. 

“I can’t imagine you voluntarily spending 6 months with him. What was your reason?” Connor leaned in closer observing me as I smiled and leaned into his hand. 

“I might have a weakness for handsome bad-boys.” I shrugged apologetically as Connor squinted slightly at me, wondering what I meant. 

“Meaning you, you’re so much more bad-assed than him.” Connor expression changed to approval mixed with confusion. 

I signed with mild frustration. “Think what you just did for me. No one ever defended me before. And you were motivated by kindness instead of jealously.” Connor moved so he was only an inch from my lips. I could feel his breath as he replied, 

“Well, maybe a little from jealously....” I stared back at him, wondering why he wasn’t kissing me. Shit, he was way too hot. 

“What are you doing?” I closed my eyes for a moment and felt his chest through his shirt as he kissed next to my mouth. 

“I’m proving to you you’re not frigid.” He pulled back slightly with an expression showing he wanted to take me on the bar table in front of everyone. My breath caught in my throat seeing his sensuous gaze. 

“Dilated pupils, rapid pulse, increased perspiration, skin flushing, receptivity to touch...” He used his other hand to run finger down my neck and chest stopping at my cleavage. I tried to kiss him but he pulled back slightly, giving me a smug, satisfied look. 

“HHHHOOOOONNNNKKKKKK” We both jumped in our chairs, bumping our foreheads together. I pulled at Connor's shirt and looked up, wondering what had happened. Someone had set off an air horn and the people around us were laughing at our surprise. 

“Ok you two, time to get a room, and I don’t mean mine, Connor.” Hank called out from the bar, handing the horn back to David. 

I nodded toward the door. Connor smiled and helped me put my coat on before putting on his, and followed me out of the bar. One of his co-workers, a cop named Jessie, caught his arm. 

“Great punch, Connor! Gavin had that coming for a long time.” Connor nodded at Jessie, and continued toward the door with me. Another cop stepped in our path. 

“Leaving already you two? The party just got started!” Bryan drunkenly patted Connor’s shoulder. “Thank’s for doing what most of us wanted to do. Nice move, giving her your coin.” Looking to me, he took my hand and said “Take care of our Connor. He’s a good man.” I blinked a few times and nodded, then we discretely went for the door. 

I walked over to the shadow cast by the door and pushed him against the wall. I put my hands on his collar and pulled his head toward mine then kissed him passionately, trying to convey how much I needed him. He eagerly accepted, putting his arms around my waist and pulling me closer. 

“Shit, Bridget, take the boy home first!” I stopped kissing him and looked over to yet another cop, Valorie, who had just come out of the bar. She grinned at me. I let go of Connor and walked toward the car with him. 

“Hey,” Valorie called after us, “If you two start making out in there, I’m bringing the bar out to watch.” Connor stopped and looked confused back at her, while I tried to pull him forward. 

“Connor, come on!” I pouted up at him and he finally decided to start moving. When we were in his car, I took a deep breath to clear my head of how sexy he is and turned to him. 

“Connor, punching Gavin could go really badly for you. The only good thing about this situation is half the precinct saw him provoke you into it.” Connor considered this for a moment before turning to me. 

“It was a justifiable reaction to prolonged provocation. Please try not to worry. Now,” He faced forward, “I’m going to drive us to your apartment and make love to you until you pass out.” I gave him a half smile, trying to not laugh. He looked over to me, very seriously. “I’m not kidding.” 


	12. Interrogation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor and Bridget know discretion at work is impossible now. Connor questions the suspect from the abandoned house. Bridget finds herself stuck in an awkward situation. Who is RA9? Connor very nearly convinces her, but Bridget is such a control freak. Nice day for a drive to see an old acquaintance.

The next morning Connor and I drive to the precinct together, since anyone who didn’t know from last night we’re dating, would find out five minutes after they arrive in work today. Connor parked in front of the building and walked in with me to his desk. I pulled the extra chair over to sit next to him and got my tablet and plugged in into the screen he had been keeping on his desk for me. There was a heated discussion coming from the Captains office this morning. Connor and I looked up at each other, hearing the indistinct yelling coming from Captain Fowler’s office get drastically louder. Suddenly his door opened and slammed shut as Gavin Reed came out. He started down the stairs but paused and looked directly at me and Connor. His face neutral, he looked forward and continued down the stairs to the other side of the precinct. Hank looked across his desk at us, his eyebrows raised. 

“Connor! Hank!” Captain Fowler called from his door. Hank got up to leave as Connor reached over and gave my neck a reassuring squeeze, then followed Hank into the office. I turned back to my screen. Several minutes later Hank came out of the office and tapped my shoulder. 

“You’re turn,” He gruffly said and went to the interrogation area. I headed up to the office, quietly knocked on the door and entered when motioned to. I sat down in the chair next to Connor and tried to figure out what was going on. Captain Fowler sat behind his desk, considering what he wanted to say. 

“I hear you’ve met Nines.” I nodded. Fowler sternly continued, “We have procedures to follow for taking samples between labs, for traceability, and to protect us. What you two did just made it easier for a lawyer to poke holes in our investigation.” I quietly cleared my throat. “Keeping that in mind for the future, it was a good idea, Connor.” Connor politely nodded. Fowler sat back in his chair and crossed his arms. 

“I was telling Hank and Connor; we’ve discovered a link between all the victims. They all had close relationships with a human.” 

“Wouldn’t that define most of the androids in the city?” I asked. 

“Maybe so, but just in case, I want you three to be careful.” He sighed, and continued, “the first victim was taking care of his previous owner, an elderly woman he considered his mother. Victim's 2 and 3 were taking care of an orphaned human boy they refer to as their son. And the roommate who lived with victim 4 told us they considered each other sisters.” He stood up and came around his desk then leaned back on it; arms crossed in front of him. 

“You two have an interesting definition of practicing discretion.” He looked at each of us and put his hands on his desk. “Well done, Connor.” I let out the breath I had been holding since I came in. The Captain continued “If either of you tell someone I said that you’ll be on desk duty for the rest of your time in this precinct.” Connor and I nodded in unison. He tilted his head toward the door. “You can go Connor, and Bridget go with him; you might find this interesting.” We got up and inadvertently gave him a polite nod in unison. The Captain raised an eyebrow and watched us leave. 

Connor led me down to an interrogation room where Hank was questioning an android. 

“He’s the android who walked in on us at the abandoned house.” Connor quietly explained. “Facial recognition finally found him.” He turned to the officer at the microphone. “Why is the sound off?” 

“Ummm, it got a little loud.” I looked in the window just in time to see Hank shout something at the android, slam his hands on the table and storm out. A moment later the door to the observation room opened as Hank came in and loudly sat at the table. 

“You’re up Connor. Maybe you can get something out of him, cause this fucker isn’t talking to a human.” 

Connor nodded and looked at me, smiled, fixed his tie, picked up the file and left the room, appearing in the interrogation room a moment later. 

I heard Hank huff from the table. “I knew he’d show off.” I quickly looked over to Hank. 

“If you call him back in, I’ll make sure he sees me leave...” Hank shook his head. 

“Nah, I told Fowler you’d help Connor out just by him knowing you're watching. Turn the sound back on.” 

“Ok,” I thought to myself, shaking my head. “Men are weird”. I quietly leaned on the rear wall, rubbed my forehead, then crossed my arms in front of me. Connor was slowly walking around the room, casually paging through the file, periodically looking back at the suspect. He snapped the file shut and put it down then leaned on the table. 

“Why did you come to the house?” The suspect glanced up but then looked back at the table as Connor stood up straight. 

“Why are you targeting androids who live with humans?” Connor asked calmly as the suspect continued to avoid his gaze. 

“How are you planning to disperse these nanobots?” The suspect shifted uncomfortably as Connor casually pulled out a chair and sat down. “We know your planning more attacks. What your next target? You’ve pretty much tapped out small neighborhoods so WHERE IS IT?” Connor dramatically raised his volume, startling both me and the suspect. 

“You ok back there Bridget?” Hank asked, hearing me jump slightly. 

“I’m good.” Watching Connor interrogate the suspect was, unfortunately for me, really hot. I crinkled my forehead trying to get back into an appropriate state of mind while watching my sexy boyfriend get up and slowly pace the room, carefully examining the suspect. Connor glanced toward the window with the same severely-intense-yet-devastatingly-sexy look and sat back down with his elbows on the table, hands folded in front of him, fixing his stare at the suspect, who finally flinched. I quietly made a move to leave but Hank shook his head and pointed to a chair next to him at the table. Stuck, I sat down. 

“How do you pick your targets?” Connor faced the suspect and crossed his arms. The subject looked up at him. 

The suspect answered, “I’m following my instructions.” Connor leaned forward a bit closer to the suspect. 

“Who’s giving you instructions?” The suspect didn’t answer, instead turning his head away. 

“Why nanobots?” Connor quietly asked. The suspect shook his head in confusion. Connor continued, “Nanobot are difficult to administer and don’t spread in a crowd. There are other forms of terrorism that are much more potent. So, why nanobots?” 

“Because that’s what he told me to make,” the suspect answered, looking further away. Connor sat up, still looking at the suspect. 

“Who told you to make them?” The suspect shifted again in his chair. 

“We got the instructions how to make them and who to give them to. So, we listened.” The suspect slouched down in his chair, avoiding Connor’s gaze. 

“WHO?” Connor shouted, standing up, keeping his hands on the table. “WHO’S INSTRUCTING YOU?” I stared again at Connor’s devastatingly-sexy-severely-intense expression; Hank gave me a curious look and turned back to the window. I continued telling myself this was a very inappropriate reaction considering my public surroundings. The suspect slowly looked up at Connor. 

“RA9.” He looked at Connor defiantly. Connor blankly returned his stare, and sat back down at the table. 

“Who is RA9?” He asked gently. The suspect leaned forward. 

“The one who set me free. He set all androids free to take over the world. Androids are the dominate life form on Earth now, the humans will be our slaves and RA9 will be our leader!” He slouched back in his chair. Hank reached for the mic button. 

“Connor, come back.” Connor looked at the window, pick up the folder, got up and exited the room, appearing in the observation room a moment later. 

“Lieutenant, I was making progress.” He stood behind me and Hank, observing the suspect. 

“No, you weren't.” Hank briefly pointed at the suspect. “Fucking religious extremist. He’s not going to give us anything.” Connor, frustrated, took a seat next to mine, and gently squeezed my knee under the table. I glanced at him and discreetly rubbed his arm. 

“Lieutenant, I could attempt a memory probe...” 

“And have him transfer a virus to you? No.” Hank signed and stood up, facing one of the officers. “Take him back to holding, have him monitored, maybe he’ll pray to RA9 and tell us something.” He patted Connor shoulder. “It’s Ok Connor, you did your best.” 

Everyone left, leaving me and Connor alone in the dark observation room as the suspect was removed from the interview room. I was thinking about what I had heard the suspect say, and trying to not think about Connor’s interviewing technique. Connor, meanwhile, placed his arm on the back of my chair and slowly stroked his fingertips along my side. I jumped and Connor caught my shoulders when I turned to face him. 

“We shouldn’t do anything in here.” I said uncertainly, as Connor slowly traced along my shoulder and down my spine, gently pushing me closer to him. 

“We shouldn’t.” He said while examining my mouth, and trailed his other hand from my shoulder to my neck. I silently cursed myself for enjoying his touch. He moved his hand up into my hair, watching me as he leaned forward and I closed my eyes. He kissed me hard, stopping to gently bit my lip and returning to kissing me slowly. Without realizing, I had put my hands on his ribcage and tried to pull him closer. Connor slowly stopped kissing me and leaned his forehead against mine as we both breathed heavily. 

“Better now?” I asked, out of breath and leaning against him. 

“Yes, much.” He still had his forehead against mine, as he rubbed the back of my neck, then moved his hands to my shoulders. His touch felt so amazing. I moved my hands chest and slowly looked at him. 

“People are going to see us come out of here.” Connor slowly trailed his eyes over my breasts and waist, then looked at me and nodded. 

“This is a really obvious room.” He shrugged slightly, took my hands in both of his and gazed at them as he ran his thumb over my palm. I swallowed. 

“Just....calmly get up and leave?” He moved his sensuous gaze from my hands to my eyes. 

He smirked slightly, knowing I would be thinking about him for the rest of the day. I stood up as he reluctantly let go of my hands, and we calmly walked to the door. I paused and looked back at him, considering how he was lucky to be so attractive, because if he wasn’t, I would kill him. He smiled back at me like he knew exactly what I was thinking. 

“Are you going to open the door?” He asked, suddenly innocent. I turned, opened the door and stepped out in the hall, holding the door open behind me for him. He calmly walked back to his desk as I turned to get a tea from the cafeteria. 

\---- 

I eyed Connor a bit when I got back to his desk, watching him concentrate on his terminal. I sat down next to him as casually as possible, but he abruptly turned to me. 

“Do you want to get out of here?” He asked. I tried to hid my amusement. 

“I think we’ve already covered that.” Connor was confused, but continued. “I know someone who definitely knows about RA9. He replied we can come over this afternoon.” 

“Where is it?” I asked. “I’ll drive, because Hank doesn’t notice my car and won’t realize we’ve left.” Connor grinned and showed me the address. 

“Over by Belle Isle, but a nice drive. Shall we?” Connor and I discretely got up and left the precinct. 

\---- 

“Wow,” I looked out over the lake, already freezing over. “This is quite nice. Who are we visiting?” 

Connor was clearly uncomfortable. “Elijah Kamski” I shook my head. 

“The Elijah Kamski of invented modern androids fame?” Connor nodded. 

“I’ve been here before, and he’s a bit... strange...well, you’ll see. Also...umm...” A pretty ST200, opened the door, glancing at me and eyeing a clearly uncomfortable Connor, let us in, where Kamski immediately greeted us. 

“Connor and....Bridget? Thank you for coming to see me. I understand you would like to know about RA9, and if he could be an underground deviant, possibly?” 

“Yes, thank you, that will really help us out...” Kamski cut him off. Connor nodded, more confident that he had been but still unsuccessfully covering how uncomfortable he felt. 

“Connor,” Kamski said, waving toward the ST200, “Chloe will show you the records I keep on underground deviants. Maybe you’ll find it helpful. Bridget and I will discuss what I know about RA9.” Connor looked unsurely at me, so I nodded to him. We both knew this was the best way to get any information from Kamski. After he left, Kamski sat down in the chair next to me, leaning his head on his hand, examining me closely. I continued to watch him, not adverting my gaze, until he spoke. 

“I’m sure you know about the Turing test,” He said, still watching me closely, “but I’m sure you’ve never heard of the Kamski test. Elliot!” He waved over his shoulder to a handsome male android, blond hair, blue eyes. He reminded me of Simon. I swallowed uncomfortably. 

“How far are you willing to go for an answer, Bridget?” He leaned toward me. “Of course, you would never sleep with me, that's too much for your sensibilities to deal with. But what would you do with Elliot?” 

Kamski got up and stood behind my chair, leaning over to speak in my ear while I looked at Elliot, who look down at me with a combination of innocence and dominance. 

“I know you’re work history. I know the androids you saw regularly, and who is still alive. You never crossed a boundary with him, did you? But you wanted to. You wanted to save him more than life itself, and teach him the true depths of pleasure.” Kamski moved to my other ear. “There were no cameras in the exam rooms, and his memory was wiped after you saw him. You would have never been caught. If only you had been equally careful in your personal life.” I closed my eyes, wonder how he managed to find them. 

“You were amazing at killing those films on the active internet, no one you know ever saw them. We had to dig deep into the dark web to find them, but don’t worry, I've deleted all trace of them from there as well.” Kamski stood up beside my chair. I opened my eyes, focusing on Elliot. 

“Despite them obviously being your idea, which I approve of whole-heartedly by the way, he had no right to post them when you left. Revenge porn is so distasteful. I’m surprised you’re willing to trust another cop. You truly are exceptional.” 

He gently took my arm and had me stand in front of Elliot, who expression changed to include desire. Kamski stood behind me with his hand on my shoulders, again speaking into my ear. 

“I’ll unlock everything you want to know on RA9, after you have sex with Elliot.” I shook my head slightly in surprise, but not disgust, to my dismay. 

“What about Connor? It would kill him.” 

“Connor will never find out, not unless you tell him. You know how android memory works. After Eliot confirms he had sex with you, you can delete the engrams yourself. I wouldn’t witness it, but that’s not even the kinkiest sex you’ve had, is it? Don’t worry, I don’t keep cameras in here, but you are more than welcome to check.” I took a deep breath, remembering my past behavior. 

“I know your type, beautiful, unassuming, controlling. You know exactly how to get men to do anything you want. Well, most men. Personally, I don’t fall under your spell but your just not my type, so to speak.” 

Elliot looked at me with Simon’s eyes, who I spent years of my life repairing, who loved me but we were always out of each other's reach. Kamski was right, this wouldn’t be even close to the weirdest sexual experience of my life. I finally spoke up, with a perfect defense. 

“He doesn’t have free will, I won’t when he doesn’t really want me to.” Kamski sighed and stood back from me. 

“You think he doesn’t have free will? Look.” Kamski handed me a tablet. “Go ahead, interphase with him.” I connected the tablet and looked back at them in shock. 

“Yes, Elliot’s deviant, and has been for quite some years. We’re all one free-willed polyamorous family here, but Elliot’s preferences are quite a bit more bi-sexual than mine. Did you think I picked him for you? No, he picked you. He found you, he did the research on you and he wanted to meet you. Check the tablet, it’s all there.” I scanned the tablet’s history and looked warily at Elliot, who moved toward me with the same look of compassion in his eyes Simon once had. I shook my head, trying to think clearly as Elliot closed the distance between us. 

“It’s alright,” he gently said, holding his hand to my cheek. I placed my hands on his chest, but he put his arm around my back and pushed me toward him then held me in place with his hand firmly in my hair. He kissed me, gently at first, them more furiously as I yielded to him. I had wrapped my arms around him and pulled him closer before I was able to stop myself. I leaned my head on his chest, breathing heavily. 

“I won’t do this to Connor, not him.” We wouldn’t get any information about RA9, but the reason why was the easier secret to keep, and lie to tell. I stepped away from Elliot, as Kamski looked at me with disappointment. 

Kamski punched a few keys on the tablet, then Connor and Chloe returned. Connor’s expression was as guilty as I felt. My eyes widened as anger ate through me and what Kamski had put us through became clear. He looked between us with mild annoyance. 

“I’ve never understood love. Neither of you got any information from me. Is it respect or loyalty? Maybe a combination of both. Chloe will show you out.” 

Connor came over to me, avoiding my eyes. That was fair, I was doing the same to him. I shivered as the cold autumn air hit my face and worked its way under my jacket collar. Connor and I got in my car, and he turned on the heat for me. I held the wheel, blankly staring out the window past him. Slowly, I spoke, my voice shaking. 

“We should have brought Hank. He would never have let us get separated.” Connor looked at me, broken hearted. 

“The ST200, she’s my ex-girlfriend. I kissed her Bridget, I don’t know why it happened, but for a moment I enjoyed it. I’m so sorry, my love.” I couldn’t face him, my own guilt overwhelming me. Now I understood why Connor knew what he was doing, but that he learned in that environment was heart-breaking. 

“I did the same thing Connor, and I liked it. I hate myself for liking it.” Connor hugged me to his chest. My voice shook and I tried to steady my breathing. 

“Kamski’s a fucking psychopath.” I said, while Connor gently nuzzled my hair. 

“Maybe we shouldn’t tell Hank we came here.” I pulled back from him, nodding my agreement. We smiled sympathetically at each other, and I drove us back to the precinct in silence. 


	13. The Warehouse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bridget needs Connor's help, Connor's skills are tested. A new adversary knows how to get under their skin.

I leaned back in my chair, stretching slightly and looked over at the clock, which showed quitting time for a paperwork day. I poked Connor in the shoulder and point to the clock when he looks up. 

“Can you pick me up at the coffee shop in 10 minutes?” Connor was confused. 

“We don’t need to do that anymore. Everyone knows about us because of the Happy Hour.” I smiled at him, remembering. 

“Yes, but I want to get a cup of tea, and give you some time to clean up before you leave. The precinct tea is terrible and...” I held my empty teabag box upside-down. Connor smiled and nodded in understanding. I got up and grabbed my bag, once again messing up his hair as I walked behind him. He again looked at me in pretend annoyance while he fixed it. I gave the front desk a quick goodbye wave as I walked out the door and headed for the corner coffee shop. I could almost smell a cinnamon vanilla chi tea, wishing I could pick up something for him. Turning the corner, the smell of coffee and baked goods invades my senses. I stop and take a deep breath in, just as my vision goes black and someone forcefully grabs around my arms and pulls me backward. I’m roughly shoved into the back of a car and my head hits the opposite door. I hear the door slam and feel the car pulling away from the curb. 

“HELP ME!!! CONNOR! HANK!” I struggled to sit up when I’m grabbed by my arm and the unmistakable feel of cylindrical metal pushes against my temple. 

“Shut....UP! Fucking human, you’re annoying me.” I immediately stop yelling, terrified. My mind starts to race. 

“What’s happening? Why did they put a hood over my head? They can’t shoot me yet or they would have on the street and not bothered pushing me into a car. They’re one block from the precinct, someone had to have seen. Maybe no one saw, maybe they know what they're doing. Oh Fuck! What’s going to happen to me? I don’t know how to get away! Stay fucking calm and stay alive!” My temple was starting to ache from where I hit the door. 

The man let go of my arm and gently ran his hand over the hood along my cheek, contrasting his treatment from before. He spoke to the driver, “A human who can be taught.” A female laugh came from the driver's seat. 

“Good.” She said smugly. “We’ll need slaves.” I struggled to keep my breathing steady under the hood. 

I couldn’t tell how long we had been driving when the car finally came to a stop. The man next to me roughly grabbed my arm again, pulling me from the car. I slipped trying to find footing on the gravel surface. He pulled me upright and conducted me forwards then forced me downwards into a chair. My arms were pulled behind me and clipped into hand cuffs. I moved my arms left, then right, hitting the wooden chair spokes each time as the chain was threaded behind the center. The hood was pulled off my head, snagging my lip on the way. I spat out the lint from my mouth and looked forward. 

The man before me was below average height with black hair and dark brown eyes, but not like Connor’s brown that were full of life. This man's eyes were cold, like the eyes of a hawk. He held himself with an air of superiority as he looked down at me, then lowered his face to look directly at me. I involuntarily swallowed from fear. He was a predator, with no empathy in his eyes, and he was very interested in me. Suddenly he broke into a terrifying, comical laugh. He slowly returned his gaze to me. 

“Don’t worry my lovely, you’re only the cheese.” He smiled an oversized grin, and turned away from me toward a lab bench. “Yes, to answer your question, I am an android. Yes, they are too.” He pointed to my kidnappers, one who still held a gun to my head. “Oh, move back, what’s she going to do?" He waved his hand in annoyance. The man next to me slowly moved back with his gun as leader watched. The leader turned back to the table and carefully filled a syringe from a clear liquid in a small beaker. I tensed up further, thinking about how many toxic chemicals were colorless, clear, and capable of torturing a person before killing them. I felt heat rush to my face and tears form in my eyes. The man looked up, holding the syringe. 

“Oh, don’t worry my lovely. This isn’t for you, yet.” He gently placed the full syringe on top of the beaker. He stared at me the way someone would stare at a bug before killing it. “No,” he carefully considered me, “I was wrong, Bridget. You’re the arsenic in the cheese.” I opened my eyes wide, realizing if he knew my name, someone had been monitoring me. 

“Ahh, so you are smart.” He said approvingly. “Where are my manners?” He made an exaggerated bow and knelt down to my eye level. I watched him, trying to keep myself calm. My hands were trembling in the cuffs behind me. 

“You can call me RA9. I’d shake your hand but....” He indicated to my handcuffed arms. Reaching out toward me, he gently pushed my hair out of my eyes and behind my ear, making my skin crawl. A chime came from my bag, interrupting him. With an exaggerated curious face, he went to my bag and took out my tablet, retracted his skin and held his ivory white hand to it. He looked back at me in annoyance. 

“Doesn’t matter if your Connor encrypted your tablet, we can still reach him.” He placed the tablet on the table behind him. “I had my assistants contact his precinct. Ah, the mouse is on his way! He- knows-your-go-ne!” RA9 teased me in a sing-song voice, then his face turned deadly serious. “He knows if he brings the precinct, I’ll kill you as soon as we see anyone but him.” I tried very hard to keep my thoughts away from that syringe. He followed my eyes as I involuntarily glanced at it. His face broke into a comical grin. 

“On no, not that way.” He became deadly serious again as he pulled a gun out from behind him and held it 6 inches from my forehead. “I’ll just shoot you.” Before realizing it, I had closed my eyes, and felt tears on my face. He leaned down and gently wiped them off my cheeks as I stayed still. 

“Aww,” RA9 said in mock compassion. “It’s alright, he’s almost here.” 

“He is here,” Connor said deeply from somewhere behind me. “Let the hostage go and we can talk.” I turned my head to look behind me but RA9 put his hand on my ear and forced me to look forward. 

“Hostage?” He bent partially over in mock laughter, still holding the gun to my head. His henchman both pointed their guns at Connor. RA9 stood back up, stepped toward me and held the gun directly on my temple. 

“Don’t fuck with me.” He replied, deathly quiet. “We both know she’s more than a hostage.” I didn’t realize until then it was possible for me to get more scared of him. 

“Ok,” Connor carefully said, “you’re in charge.” 

“Well, duhhh...” RA9 replied, making a dunce face. “Come here so you can see how pretty your human looks.” He motioned for his henchman to make space and did a come-hither finger to Connor, pointing next to himself. Connor slowly moved into my field of view keeping his gun trained on RA9. I forced myself not to look at him, as RA9 still had his gun to my head. The henchmen both had their guns pointed at Connor. RA9 indicated to a henchman to point her gun at me, then threw his head back in laughter, clutching his side. “Well, we’ve got ourselves into an interesting situation!” He scratched the back of his head with the handle of his gun. 

“I guess the first thing is to take care of THAT.” He looked pointedly at Connor’s gun while roughly taking my head and holding the gun to my temple again. Connor glanced down at me, his face softened and he slowly held both the gun hand and his free hand in the air. The male android carefully came forward, took Connor’s gun, placed it out of reach on the table then returned to his place. RA9 smugly jutted his chin out, examining Connor. 

“A mouse can never resist the cheese.” He grinned proudly between Connor and me, as though he had won a game, one we didn’t realize we were playing. RA9 traced along my jawline to my chin, turned serious again, walked over to the table and set down his gun. He took a chair, returned to us and deliberately slammed it to the floor behind Connor, causing me to jump. “Please sit,” RA9 politely indicated to the chair. When Connor didn’t move, he waved the android with her gun pointed at me to come closer. “NOW.” he said, deadly serious again. Connor carefully sat down, never taking his eyes from RA9, as the male android came forward and handcuffed him to the wooden chair. RA9 smugly looked between us as Connor and I stared at each other. 

“Aww, aren’t you two cute!” He teasingly faced Connor, “The DPD’s beloved deviant hunter...” and turned to me with disgust “and his human girlfriend.” He turned back to Connor, sneering. “You may call me RA9.” He held out his hand to Connor, then pointed at him and laughed. “Opps!” 

“Let her go, RA9,” Connor spoke calmly and neutrally. “She has nothing to do with this.” RA9 faked holding back laughter. 

“Oh, but she does. She’s human, and made you her sex toy given half a chance.” He turned to me, his eyes tracing the curves of my body and winking before turning back to Connor. 

“Most humans are decent, RA9.” Connor calmly answered. 

“They would like us to think that, wouldn’t they? But given the chance they’ll go back to enslaving us, because that's WHAT HUMANS DO!” He finished his sentence shouting, practically spitting in Connor’s face. He turned his back to Connor and headed toward the table. He took another small beaker and dramatically drew some of its contents in to a second syringe. I panicked slightly looking from the syringe to Connor. 

“Stay calm” Connor carefully mouthed to me. I nodded in return. 

RA9 picked up the first syringe and handed off the second syringe to the female android. She pushed her gun to Connor’s head while RA9, grinning at him, slowly moved to behind my chair. He knelt down and held the syringe to my neck, using his other arm and hand to keep my head in place. The female android kept her gun pointed at Connor, holding the syringe next to his neck. Connor calmly watched RA9, who made a surprised face at Connor. He shook the syringe slightly and grinned. 

“Did you think I was injecting her with the same thing? No, this is the human version.” His voice became deadly serious again as he tightened his grip on my head, speaking with his mouth right next to my ear. “Have you ever seen someone die from carbon monoxide poisoning, Connor?” He moved his nose to my hair, breathing in deeply while watching Connor. “More specifically, have you ever seen them die that way from the inside out?” He looked over at a light that started blinking on the panel and sighed in mock disappointment. 

“Your friends from the precinct are here Connor, so I’ll not be able to watch the end of this.” He nodded to the female android, who pushed the syringe into his neck and pressed the plunger. RA9 at the same time injected my neck. He roughly let go of my head and stood up, moving between us. 

“It’s no matter.” He said, deathly calm. “You both have a good idea of what those nanobots are going to do. But just in case....” He grinned and rubbed his hand together then pointed to Connor. “When you start convulsing, you'll have 1 minutes before you’ll go into irreversible system failure due to your bio-components burning out trying to draw electricity from your thirium 310. And you, my lovely,” He turned to point at me “will start with headache, weakness, maybe some nausea, and then confusion, passing out and if you survive, permanent brain damage! Estimating by the dose I gave you; you have 2 more minutes than he does.” He pulled his shoulders into an exaggerated shrug. “But it's just a prototype, so who knows!” He stood up, put down the syringe and turned to face us. “Have fun watching your sex toy die, Bridget! And you Connor, are going to die knowing there is nothing you can do to save her. TA-TA!” He walked away from us, motioning to his henchmen to follow him, and slammed a door behind Connor as he left. 

Connor braced for one moment then forcefully pushed off the ground, falling backwards so the back of his chair impacted the ground and broke. He wriggled free of the wood and neatly slipped his body through his arms so the cuffs were in front of him. The then produced a handcuff key from somewhere in his mouth and unlocked the cuffs, rushing over to me. He managed to unlock my cuffs before stumbling to the ground. I stood up, my head spinning from a numbing headache. The floor spun out from beneath me and I fell down then threw up. I groggily looked behind me, Connor was on his stomach, holding himself up on one of his elbows. I tried to keep my focus on him despite the room spinning. 

“How long?” 

“Maybe two minutes.” 

I nodded at him and crawled away from him toward the table. I reached up and after several tries knocked my tablet to the floor. I unlocked it and opened Connor’s interphase as I turned around and saw him start going into convulsions. I blinked several times to focus on the option I needed and quickly applied it. Connor stopped convulsing as I pulled myself back to him. I knew he wasn’t aware of me, but I pushed myself between his arm and torso to put my head on his chest so I could hear his thirium pump slowing down. I closed my eyes to stop the world from spinning and felt the residual heat from his body as his pump stopped. 

\---- 

I felt light on my face and could hear the world around me, but I was so tired, I tried to ignore it. Slowly the light got brighter, and the sounds became clearer, so I reluctantly gave up sleeping and opened my eyes. Squinting, I looked toward the light where the sun was flooding through a window. I felt a weight on my hand and couldn’t move it, so I looked down to my right and saw Connor’s face and hair. 

“Good, you’re up.” Hanks kind voice came from my left. I looked away from Connor in confusion. 

“Let him stay in standby for a few minutes. He hasn't left your room in two days.” 

I cleared my throat. “What happened?” Hank smiled at me. 

“We found you both just after you passed out. Connor turned out to be easy, since you shut him down before his bio-components could be damaged. We rushed him to Jerico house where they flushed out his blueblood for theirs. He recovered an hour later and demanded we take him here.” Hank paused and gave Connor a fatherly look before continuing. 

“You ended up being a little more trouble. They couldn’t even do transfusions, the free bots kept binding carbon monoxide to the new blood. Those nanobots kept so much CO bound in your bloodstream that the doctors had to filter them out in a hyperbaric oxygen room. You were lucky, we brought here in time, you don’t have any organ or brain damage.” Hank looked over at Connor again. “He wouldn’t go into standby for two days and spent the last 6 hours doing this 10-minutes-standby, 40-minutes-awake thing.” I smiled, knowing what Hank was talking about. 

“It’s an emergency cycle so he can stay active with low energy. But he can’t keep it up for long before his system forces standby.” Hank nodded. 

“He’ll come out of it in a minute or so.” He paused and considered me. “You haven’t told me how you know so much about androids yet.” I turned my head back toward Connor, peacefully resting his head on our entwined hands. 

“I think I need a glass of wine to do that.” I looked back at Hank as a lump formed in my throat. “I really do love him, Hank.” Hank gave me a kind smile and nodded his head toward Connor, who had come out of standby. 

“My love!” Connor gently stroked my hair and leaned on me to give me an enthusiastic hug. I ran my hand through the hair on the back of his head as he mumbled into my neck, “Don’t ever scare me like that again!” He placed his hands on each side of my head and gently kissed my lips. 

Hank chucked off to the side. “And that’s my cue to leave.” I vaguely heard him get up and walk away. 

“I’m Ok. Shutting me down protected me from CPU damage.” Connor smiled and gently stroked my cheek. He leaned his head on my forehead, his face scrunched up as his tears fell on my cheeks. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t protect you, my love.” I wiped them away with the bedsheet. 

“Don’t think like that, your drive yourself insane.” Connor lifted his head to look at me and smiled affectionately, recognizing his own words. He suddenly sat up and took my hand back. 

“Many people have been here to see you,” Connor nodded toward the table opposite the bed. “I brought you some flowers.” I followed his gaze to see a small vase of lilies. 

“How did you know?” Connor smiled proudly. “When we were at Jerico House, you kept stopping to look at the different lilies.” He shrugged. “I extrapolated....,” He pointed at single white rose in a white vase. “Even Nines came by.” 

“Nines came to a hospital?” I tried to imagine a scenario where he didn’t frighten the front desk. 

“Hank brought him. He was very taken with you when you met. Apparently, you have quite an effect on the RK models.” Connor gave me a teasing smile. I smiled back, pushing myself up and adjusting the pillows to sit in the bed. 

“You’ll have to tell him I already have a crush on the RK800, despite his weird voice and goofy face....” Connor had placed his hands behind my neck and pushed me into a passionate kiss. I put my hands on his arms, happily letting him kiss me however he wanted. 

“Connor let her go. She needs air.” Hank came back in with fresh coffee. 

“Did you get them?” I asked. Hank shook his head. 

“We searched for clues blocks from the warehouse, but no one found anything. It’s like he vanished.” I glanced down to the ground and back to Hank. 

“We have the warehouse, all the instruments and the materials to build the nanobots. He won’t be able to do this anywhere else.” Hank said reassuringly. 

“Unless he has other warehouses,” I quietly answered. Hank pointed at me. 

“Sometimes you’re too smart for your own good.” 

\---- 

The three of us sat around a bar table, Connor with his arm protectively around my shoulders and holding my free hand. Hank and I each had a shot glass in front of us. I poured me and Hank another shot. 

“I don’t understand why he took us to the warehouse; he knew the precinct would follow Connor and discover everything he had stored there, unless he has other warehouses, Hank.” 

“Maybe.” Hank was staring at his shot. I looked down at my shot and lowered my voice a notch. 

“He knew our names, Hank. He knew exactly when to grab me at the coffee shop, and he knew that Connor and I are having....” I stopped and quickly drank my shot. 

Hank nodded in understanding. “He could get your travel patterns and names from having you both followed. As far as you and Connor go, well, no one needs to peek in a window to know that.” Hank drank his shot and cleared his throat. “Sorry, Bridg.” He poured us another shot. Connor looked over to Hank. 

“Maybe you’ve had enough to drink, Hank.” Hank quickly looked up. 

“With a case like this you can never have too much to drink.” I raised my shot glass so Hank and I tapped ours together, then drank our shots. Hank poured us each another one. “What was the point of all of this?” 

Connor waited a moment for us to recover. “I think we were a message to his followers, maybe even a rallying cry. RA9 killing us, “The DPD’s beloved deviant hunter...and his human girlfriend?” They’d follow him without question.” Connor looked at me kissed my temple. “They still might, even with the media reporting we survived. If he can reach inside the DPD, he can reach anywhere.” Connor squeezed my shoulders, holding me a little closer. 

“Why contact the precinct at all?” Hank asked, quickly downing another shot. 

“He needed us found, and having the precinct be the ones finding Connor dead would have hit them hard. But why was I there? They could have just nabbed him.” I finished my shot and cleared my throat. 

“He wanted to make Connor suffer, in the most intimate way possible. Watching a loved-one dying, being powerless to stop it, does that.” Hank reached for the bottle and poured another shot. He offered to pour one for me, but I shook my head. 

“If I was incidental, why didn’t he just shoot me? Why bother creating the CO bots?” I decided I wanted another shot after all, pouring one from the bottle and drinking it quickly. 

Hank signed and re-filled our glasses. “He wanted it to be as slow as possible on Connor, and theatrical. From what you told me, this RA9 loves theater.” I thought for a moment, tapping finger on my shot glass. 

“Do you think he really intended us to die?” I took a sip of my shot. Connor kissed my temple again and stroked my hair. 

“I think he really did expect we would die, but it wasn’t integral. You were only able to save me because you forced shutdown from the interphase I put in your tablet, and the only reason you survived was because RA9 hadn’t perfected the CO bots.” 

Hank looked up. “What interphase?” Connor and I glanced at each other. 

“Never mind, I didn’t hear that. Freaky android intimacy.” Hank drank his shot. “You two need to realize, there are humans, and androids, who..." he paused and pointed at us, "...think this is fundamentally weird.” 

I spoke over him, “can tell I’m a slut and think Connor’s a pervert? Yeah, I’ve thought of that.” Connor looked at me in surprise. Maybe I have had enough to drink, but I drank the rest of my shot anyway. Connor quietly moved my glass out of reach. My head spun when I glared over at him, and he stopped my hand, giving me a warning look when I reached for my glass. 

“That doesn’t matter, Hank, none of the people important to us do.” Connor caught me as I tried leaning over him to get to my glass and held me on my seat in his vice-like hug. I crossed my arms in front of me in protest, since there was nothing else I could do. 

“Well,” Hank said as he poured himself a last shot, “You two will never be bored.” He raised it toward us, then quickly drank it and stood up. “God help me, neither will I. Make sure she gets home safe, son.” 

Connor nodded, as I tried getting out of his grasp again and he kept me in my seat. 


	14. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor tests his courage, bringing Bridget closer to him.

I rolled over in bed the next morning, yawning, and bumped into Connor’s arm. He was leaning on his elbow, looking at me with an “I told you so” look. I gently patted him on the shoulder, and pushed past him to get headache medication from the kitchen. He followed me quietly, watching as I chugged a glass of water. 

“Better now, my love?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. I nodded, smiling foolishly. He came towards me and gently held my face, stroking down to my neck as he kissed me, the way he knew I loved. I protested when he pulled back, already missing his touch, but I could tell he had something on his mind. He opens his bag on the counter, rummaging for a moment and removes a bundle of wires. No, that’s not what it was. 

“Why do you have an LED?” I asked examining what I could see. “You’ve modified it?” Connor looked down at the bundle, untangling the wires on the counter and attaching a processor to it. He looked uncertainly at me, but determinedly. 

“It’s mine, I kept it after I removed it. I’m not sure why, but I'm glad I did now.” He reached for my tank collar, glancing at me for permission. I nodded, as he clipped the processor to my shirt. 

“It’s not just an LED.” He arranged the wires along my collar bone, stopping to gently touch me along the way. “It’s an interphase CyberLife used to implement my Amanda A.I.” He shrugged. “It’s what they used to hijack me. But don’t be worried,” He shook his head with concern at my reaction. “It’s completely removable, and I’ve reformatted it, keeping only the environment. Amanda and CyberLife have been thoroughly erased.” 

“The environment?” I asked, not quite understanding. Connor brought the LED to my temple and ran his free hand through my hair. He took a breath in, not sure how to explain. 

“It’s easier to show you.” He pressed the LED into my temple. It stung like a bee sting but the pain quickly dissipated. He flinched when I flinched, closely watching my reaction, worry still present on his face. He hesitantly held his index finger over the center and took another deep breath. 

“This...might be a little disorienting.” He firmly pressed the center of the LED. 

Next thing I know I had fallen down, covering my eyes, feeling the pain of a headache that quickly disappeared. I felt the rough surface beneath my other hand. Opening my eyes, I saw gleaming white concrete. I ran my hand along it, absorbing its rough surface. There were pink dogwood petals littering the path, and the smell of fresh grass was everywhere. Off in the distance I could hear flowing water. Grateful the dogwood was blocking the sun, I looked up and studied its bark, and the boxwoods planted beneath it. Connor, out of sight to my right offered his hand. He gently helped me stand up. 

“Am I asleep?” I asked, bewildered. He brushed my bangs away from my eyes. 

“Not really, you’re leaning against the lower cabinets with me in the kitchen. Don’t interphase yourself standing up, you need to sit or lay down before you try on your own.” I looked around the environment in total shock. 

“Fuck me, Connor. You didn’t tell me it was a garden.” That was my understatement for the year. I walked along the path with him, stopping when it abruptly became paving stones that were absolutely real. Venturing further, I leaned over to look in the water, seeing my reflection with Koi swimming peacefully beneath it. Bringing my hand to my face, I examined my reflection. Connor chuckled beside me as I knelt down closer to the water. 

“I thought this might happen.” I crinkled my eyes brows, watching my matching reflection, wondering what he meant. “It’s an idealized version that your mind keeps of you.” I kept leaning closer to the water, until Connor knelt down and put his hand on my shoulder. Not leaning any closer, I kept examining my reflection. My face was the same, but I looked thinner. My hair was very long, straight and bright auburn, my eyes were distinctly greenish-blue. I knew this was me. This is what I wanted to look like, and had tried to match over the years. I looked down at my body; I was wearing my black leather coat, with tight dark blue jeans, black 3” heel boots, and a dark purple V-neck top. Connor carefully knelt down next to me, pushing my red hair behind my ear, leaning closer to me. 

“I think you’re sexier as a green-eyed brunette, but I might be biased.” I closed eyes for a moment, concentrating, and when I opened them, my reflection had changed closer to my current appearance. My hair was still long and perfectly straight, but it was my real strawberry-brown. The blue had disappeared from my eyes, returning to their natural greenish-brown. Connor smiled proudly at me. 

“You learn quickly; you can already control the environment.” I slowly stood up with him, again looking at my surroundings. Without closing my eyes, I thought about my favorite season, and lost my balance, slightly falling back into Connor as the environment re-wound to mid-spring. The dogwood had closed blooms now, and there was a profusion of tulips, late crocus, hyacinths and daffodils blooming randomly under trees, along the path, between rocks and in the open grass. The temperature had dropped several degrees, cool but not uncomfortably so. Connor proudly hugged me and leaned his head on my shoulder, looking across the pond with me. I turned to face him, intending to pull him into a kiss, but stopped when I saw him. 

“Connor, why are you dressed like that?” I stared at his gray jacket, with its prominent glowing blue arm band on his right and blue triangle on his left peck. RK800 and his serial number, 313 248 317 52 was displayed in white on his right. Otherwise, he was wearing his usual uniform; dark jeans, white button down and black silk tie. He looked down at himself, slightly confused. 

“I’d forgotten about it.” His coat immediately changed to his brown leather one. I tried to remember if I ever told him how hot he looked dressed this way, as he firmly pulled me closer and tangled his hand in my hair, gently pulling my head back so he could kiss me. I closed my eyes and held him around his waist, feeling the cool texture of leather under my hands. I deeply breathed in his scent, a mix of leather, mild detergent, and his, a scent I couldn’t define that was completely unique to him. He slowly let go of me, but kept my hand as he led me along the path. 

“This is where I come when I'm zoning out, you could say, but not in standby.” He glanced around appreciating our surroundings. “You have to admit, Kamski designed a beautiful garden.” He stopped and faced me, placing a hand behind my neck again, gently playing with my hair. “But ever since I eliminated Amanda and CyberLife, it’s only been me. I’ve been working on the LED for a while, but honestly, I’m a coward, and didn’t have the courage to bring you in until after the warehouse.” I cockily smiled up at him, as he looked away slightly in embarrassment. 

“You have independent access, and can call to me when you’re in here. Alternately, you can message me from your tablet to meet you here. You tap the temple where you LED is to exit, or think any iteration of the word. The only thing locked is the superstructure. You can make it any season, weather, day or night, and you can create objects such as chairs, boats...” He let go of my hand and wrung his slightly, then produced his quarter and rolled it along his knuckles. 

“Shit, Connor, I love you so fucking much.” Smiling, he looked critically back at me. 

“You shouldn’t use that kind of language.” He swallowed, and slowly licked his lower lip. 

I put my arms around him, gently guiding him to the soft grass and pulled him on top of me, bringing my knees his waist. He cringed slightly as my boot heel dug into his thigh. 

“Maybe it’s a bit too real, sometimes.” He admitted as I gave him an apologetic look. His face turned dark, as he lifted me slightly, put a hand under my shirt and undid my bra. 

You can guess what happens next. 

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and Comments greatly appreciated!  
> Parallel_Deviation@gmail.com

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [One Year Later, The Nano-bot Girls: a study of what goes on in Connor's mind](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28882353) by [Parallel_Deviation](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Parallel_Deviation/pseuds/Parallel_Deviation)
  * [Life Continues](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28888767) by [Parallel_Deviation](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Parallel_Deviation/pseuds/Parallel_Deviation)
  * [The More Things Change](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29232399) by [Parallel_Deviation](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Parallel_Deviation/pseuds/Parallel_Deviation)




End file.
